A South Carolina man has copped to assaulting federal officers during the notorious January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, said officials yesterday. Thirty-year-old Thomas Andrew Casselman of Walhalla, South Carolina, admitted his role in the violence that played out as Congress was in session to certify the 2020 presidential election results.
Guilty of a felony charge, Casselman is staring down his sentencing come July 18, pronounced by U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich. It was during the chaos on the West Plaza that Casselman stepped up, directed a canister of pepper spray at law enforcement, striking several officers from the Metropolitan Police Department squarely, as indicated by court documents.
Following the fracas, incriminating searches were discovered on Casselman's online activity, including queries about the statute of limitations for assaulting an officer and the definition of a domestic terrorist. He was nabbed by the FBI a little over a year later in his hometown, according to a Justice Department press release.
The case against Casselman springs from sprawling efforts by law enforcement to reckon with the seditious eruption nearly three years prior. To date, over 1,358 individuals have been slapped with charges linked to the Capitol breach. Of these, more than 486 were charged with assault or impeded law enforcement—a felony. The investigation, as officials note, is far from over.
