By Joe Dwinell
Boston Herald
WASHINGTON — The FBI is seeking information on a half-dozen men suspected of assaulting federal officers Jan. 6 — a pack that may include the alleged killer of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.
A poster of the top suspects was sent out late Sunday night in a social media bulletin. The murder of a federal officer carries the death penalty.
“Yes,” Frank Figliuzzi, the FBI’s former assistant director for counterintelligence, said when asked by the Herald Monday if one of those men shown could have killed Officer Sicknick.
“The FBI is using facial recognition, surveillance cameras, geo-location of cell phones and more to find this guy or gal,” Figliuzzi said. “One of these people might be the one.”
Figliuzzi, who’s book “The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau’s Code of Excellence” comes out Tuesday, said the poster targets “AFO” — assaulting a federal officer — suspects. He also said all the Capitol officers were “trapped” from the start with calls to defund cops coming from the left as others on the right said they were part of the “deep state,” he said.
https://twitter.com/FBIWFO/status/1348847357358649344 https://twitter.com/FBIWFO/status/1348718288877068290 https://twitter.com/FBIWFO/status/1348474241981816833
“No matter what, they are on the streets protecting us,” he added. “They stood on that thin blue line during the insurrection.”
The New York Post Monday showed dramatic new video of a man tossing a fire extinguisher at a line of Capitol Police officers during last week’s rush on the steps of Congress. The metal cannister hits one officer right in the head.
As the Herald reported Friday, officer Sicknick, 42, died a day later after reportedly being hit on the head by a fire extinguisher. “Brian is a hero and that is what we would like people to remember,” said the officer’s brother, Ken Sicknick.
A murder investigation into his death was immediately launched.
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Another Capitol Police officer allegedly later took his own life and four rioters were also killed in the melee, including an Air Force veteran shot while trying to climb through a broken window. Two of the four deaths are being attributed to medical emergencies and other victim was possibly trampled to death.
Two Capitol Police officers were suspended and up to 15 more are under investigation, according to reports, following last week’s assault on Congress.
Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who has handed in his resignation, asked for help from the D.C. National Guard, the Washington Post reported. He was turned down.
Figliuzzi said the assault on the halls of Congress could have been much worse if the FBI hadn’t told known instigators they risked arrest.
“The FBI disrupted their travel,” Figliuzzi added, but he still said the nation lost it’s “code” on Jan. 6 turning a Trump rally into a riot.
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