SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) – A Louisiana man and his East Texas cousin were arrested on Saturday, Jan. 16, after the United States District Court for the District of Columbia filed a criminal complaint against them for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6.
According to the FBI’s Statement of Facts, law enforcement received a tip the day after the riot, that Cody Connell, of Louisiana, claimed to have breached the Capitol.
Connell had responded to another Facebook user in a chain saying, “I have more videos of us breaching the Capitol but not gonna post them. We will be back and it will be a lot worse than yesterday!”
Additional Facebook posts were found that detailed Connell’s plans to travel to Washington, D.C. He reposted a message on Jan. 5 stating, “Join President Donald J. Trump at the Save America March.” Connell added to the message saying, “Definitely gonna be an experience.”
The FBI used the Facebook page and Connell’s driver’s license photo to confirm his identity. The profile says Connell is from Vivian, La.
During the morning of Jan. 6, Connell posted a video of himself and his cousin, Daniel Adams, walking in Washington, D.C.
Law enforcement was able to confirm Adams’s identity using these images from the Jan. 6 events and his driver’s license photo from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.
A witness provided videos and photographs to law enforcement sent by Connell that show him and Adams on the Capitol steps surrounded by other rioters while covering their faces with a caption that reads, “They tear gassing us.”
Another witness says Connell described the events in a video from that day saying, “That’s my cousin. When we stormed the cops there was 8 of them and 4 of us so he got clubbed and shot with rubber bullet. But we pushed the cops against the wall, they dropped all their gear and left. That’s when we went to doors of Capitol building and breached it.”
The FBI’s Statement of Facts says that there is reason to believe Connell was planning to return to Washington, D.C. sometime during the week of Jan. 18. A witness claims that Connell was in contact with individuals from Texas discussing purchases of long-rifle firearms, ammunition, and body armor to bring with them. The witness also says Connell claimed he would not return to Louisiana unless he was in a body bag.
Adams and Connell face charges of assaulting a federal officer, obstructing law enforcement engaged in official duties incident to civil disorder, knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
FBI records regarding the violence at the Capitol say Adams was arrested in the Eastern District of Texas, and Connel was arrested in the Western District of Louisiana.
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