Internet exposes rioters who stormed congress after police let them go

As images and video spread online, social media users pointed to some well known Republican supporters - and a lawmaker - among the crowds

Rioters who stormed the US Capitol Building in support of Donald Trump’s baseless “rigged” election allegations, have since been identified by internet users.

The rioters included a West Virginia lawmaker, a man who was labelled the “QAnon shaman”, and an Arkansas sexagenarian. It was not clear if they were among those arrested and later released by police.

They were among hundreds who scaled walls, overcame Capitol police, stormed Congress, smashed windows, planted explosives, and ran riot on Wednesday. All the while, lawmakers were placed on lockdown.

Derrick Evans, a Republican lawmaker recently elected to West Virginia’s legislature, has since been told to resign, having been among the rioters who broke into the US Capitol Building, and videoed the events, CBS News reported.

Although the video has since been removed by the lawmaker, whose Twitter account was suspended, it was widely shared, and showed him and several other rioters scream “we’re in, we’re in”.

“Derrick Evans is in the Capitol,” the lawmaker told viewers, while president Trump’s supporters swarmed through the Capitol Rotunda.

Rioters also reached the Senate chamber, where a QAnon supporter walked around the chamber shirtless with a horned helmet, in pictures that were also widely shared.

As WRIC reported, the 32-year-old man also known as the “QAnon Sharman” was regularly seen at Republican rallies in Arizona in the past year, allowing social media users to name him on Wednesday. 

He was said to support the QAnon conspiracy, which falsely alleges that a deep state consisting of mostly Democratic sex traffickers has worked to undermine the Trump presidency. 

The man, whose real name was reported to be Jake Angeli, told the Arizona Republic in an interview last year that he wore the horned helmet to attract attention.

While another man, 60 year-old Richard Barnett from Arkansas, was pictured with his feet on a desk inside House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s congressional office on Wednesday, which was filled with other rioters.

The sexagenarian told a New York Times’ reporter afterwards that he had written a “nasty note” on the House speaker’s desk, in comments that appeared to mock the Democratic lawmaker.

According to Law & Crime, local reporters in Arkansas were able to identify Mr Barnett as a Trump supporter from the pictures posted on social media, having interviewed him at Republican rallies in the state last year.

Mr Evans, meanwhile, was afterwards condemned by colleagues in the West Virginia legislature, where the Republican House speaker Roger Hanshaw said anyone “storming government” in such a way should be prosecuted.

“He will need to answer to his constituents and colleagues regarding his involvement in what has occurred today,” Mr Hanshaw added.  

According to CBS, Republican lawmakers from other legislatures were also due to attend the pro-Trump rally in Washington DC on Wednesday, and it was not clear whether any others have also taken part in the riot.

Police said afterwards that four people died, and more than 50 others were arrested, as a result.

Congress afterwards was still able to confirm Joe Biden’s Electoral College win against the president, in what was an all-night session.