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Published on February 22, 2024
Capitol Chaos Culprit Caves: Illinois Man Guilty of Assaulting Cops in Riot Rampage, Faces D.C. SentencingSource: U.S. Courts

An Illinois man has copped to going wild on law enforcement during the infamous Capitol riot, throwing a water bottle at cops and then shoving an officer trying to hold back the storming mob, according to the Department of Justice. Quinn Keen, a 36-year-old from Manteno, pleaded guilty to the felony charge in a Washington D.C. courtroom, and now he's staring down a June 27 sentencing date, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly ordered.

The showdown got heated when Keen, breaching the Capitol on that chaotic January day, first launched the bottle at officers and then got gutsy, shoving an officer over after the cop tried to get a toppled bike rack barricade back in position to fence in the riotous crowd, the DOJ said. But Keen wasn't done there, in a fit he hurled a metal mug at other officers which thankfully only found its mark on a plexiglass riot shield, before he waltzed into the Capitol, took a tour, lit up some marijuana with other rioters, and left the scene like it was just another Tuesday.

It took the feds more than a year to nab Keen, but they caught up with him on April 6 last year in a windy Chicago bust. Since that fateful breach over three years ago, where protestors attempted to stop the certification of Presidential election results, over 1,313 folks have been hauled in across the nation, the DOJ noted, and with Keen, 469 of them have been slapped with charges of getting physical or trying to block cops during the upheaval.

The case has many cooks in the kitchen: the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia threw the book at Keen, getting help from their buddies at the Counterterrorism Section of the Department of Justice National Security Division and getting a hand from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois; meanwhile, the FBI's Chicago and Washington Field Offices were on the prowl, assisted by the Capitol's own police and the Metropolitan Police Department. With a case still wide open and active, anyone with the skinny on other rioters still playing hide-and-seek can ring up 1-800-CALL-FBI or drop a dime online at tips.fbi.gov, the DOJ encourages.