Capitol riot suspect arrested close to Barack Obama’s house indicted on firearms prices

A Capitol riot suspect who had weapons and a whole bunch of rounds of ammunition in his van when he was arrested close to former President Barack Obama’s Washington house has been indicted on federal firearms prices, authorities mentioned Friday.

Taylor Taranto, 37, was already going through misdemeanor prices stemming from his alleged involvement within the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, and a grand jury indicted him on further felony prices alleging he illegally carried a firearm with no license and unlawfully possessed a large-capacity ammunition feeding gadget, prosecutors mentioned.

A Justice of the Peace decide earlier this week dominated that Taranto, of Pasco, Washington, should stay behind bars whereas he awaits trial as a result of he would pose a hazard to the group if launched. Taranto’s lawyer has mentioned she’s going to attraction that call.

Taranto’s lawyer, Kathryn Guevara, did not instantly reply to an e-mail looking for remark Friday on the indictment.

Guevara has mentioned that her consumer had been receiving psychological well being therapy to beat trauma that he skilled throughout army service. He deployed to Iraq whereas serving within the Navy and was driving a fight automobile in a convoy that was hit by enemy missiles, she mentioned

Taranto was arrested June 29 after prosecutors say he confirmed up in Obama’s neighborhood on the identical day that former President Donald Trump posted on his social media platform what he claimed was Obama’s house handle.

Whereas livestreaming on YouTube within the neighborhood, Taranto instructed followers that he was searching for “entrance factors,” was going to discover a method to the “tunnels beneath their homes” and wished to get a “good angle on a shot,” in keeping with courtroom papers. Officers mentioned he was noticed by regulation enforcement just a few blocks from Obama’s house and fled, although he was chased by Secret Service officers.

In his van — which investigators say he gave the impression to be residing in — Taranto had two weapons, 400 rounds of ammunition in addition to a machete, prosecutors have mentioned. Taranto’s spouse instructed investigators that he had come to D.C. due to Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s supply earlier this 12 months to supply unseen video of the Jan. 6 assault.

Taranto’s arrest got here the day after investigators say he asserted on his YouTube livestream that he was in Gaithersburg, Maryland, on a “one-way mission” and instructed that he meant to explode his van on the Nationwide Institute of Requirements and Expertise.

On the day of the riot, authorities say Taranto joined the crush of people that broke into the Capitol. He was captured on video on the entrance of the Speaker’s Foyer across the time that Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by an officer whereas trying to climb via the damaged window of a barricaded door.

Taranto’s lawyer instructed the decide earlier this week that her consumer was speaking about tunnels close to Obama’s house “in a joking method” as a result of the topic has been fodder for conspiracy theories. She mentioned in courtroom papers that feedback he made about getting the “the shot” or “angle” whereas close to Obama’s home had been solely in reference to the livestream video he was taking on the time.