After the violent attack on the US Capitol, authorities have already arrested many rioters who stormed one of America's iconic buildings. But now, the FBI is asking for public help to find out one more person who was captured in images taken inside the Capitol. The federal agency tweeted images of the man who was seen inside the building carrying a "Confederate battle flag".
Earlier, thanks to the social media users, a Nashville man was identified as one of two men who was seen with zip-ties inside the building. The man, Eric Gavelek Munchel, was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Larry Rendell Brock from Texas, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, was also arrested for entering the capitol during the riot with zip ties and faces similar charges.
The Capitol Riot
According to reports, at least five people died as a result of the violent attack. It happened after President Donald Trump urged his supporters to come to Washington for a "Save America March" on Wednesday, January 6.
As of Monday, January 11, authorities arrested more than 50 rioters, including Jake Angeli, Adam Johnson, Richard Barnett, Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr., Doug Jensen, Derrick Evans and Bradley Rukstales among others.
But what about the man with the Confederate battle flag? So, according to the House Democratic Whip Rep. James Clyburn, that particular flag was never formally adopted by the Confederacy. Rather, it has been used by Ku Klux Klan or the KKK, neo-Nazis and many other white supremacist groups.
Representative Colin Allred also said that the presence of the flag during the insurrection showed how those rioters were "tied deeply" to white supremacism.
The man carrying the flag is yet to be identified by the authorities. But after the FBI appealed for public help, social media users took the charge and began sharing the image of the unidentified man on Twitter.
FBI posted four images of the man on its website that also included a close-up of his face. The agency appealed for "assistance in identifying individuals who made unlawful entry into the United States Capitol Building."
However, according to Aki Peritz, the former CIA counterterrorism analyst, intelligence agents believed that they had identified the man with the flag, but it turned out to be "false positive".
