The FBI arrested three more men Friday in connection with the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, two in Minnesota and one in Iowa.
Two Minnesotans, one Iowan arrested for engaging in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection
Two Minnesotans and one Iowan were charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
June 11, 2021 at 11:49PM
Brian Christopher Mock of Minneapolis was charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds without authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted place; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, and acts of physical violence on Capitol grounds.
Daniel Johnson of Austin, Minn., and his father, Daryl Johnson of St. Ansgar, Iowa, were arrested and charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
The men were arrested without resistance, according to Kevin Smith, public affairs officer for the FBI's Minneapolis division. Daryl Johnson was arrested in Iowa by the agency's Omaha division.
Mock's charging documents include screenshots of body camera footage that show him at the front of the crowd of rioters and breaking through the police line to enter the Capitol grounds. He assaulted two Capitol police officers, the charges say.
On April 5, the FBI included photos of Mock in a "Seeking Information" list on its website and social media pages and requested the public's help identifying him. The FBI used information provided by at least seven witnesses and two anonymous tipsters to confirm his identity.
On May 1, a witness sent a screenshot of a Facebook post that included photos of Mock and his girlfriend in front of the Minnesota pillar at the World War II memorial in Washington with the caption, "Before we went to the Capital [sic] ... we did a little sightseeing. ..." This screenshot helped the FBI cross-reference previous tips that weren't connected to a known suspect.
Those tips included intel that Mock had traveled to Washington for the express purpose of storming the Capitol and that he'd been bragging at home about "beating up cops." Other tips included screenshots of Facebook posts from Mock's girlfriend that confirmed that the two of them were in the city on the day of the insurrection.
"Teargassed 6 times, pepper sprayed, and mustard gassed at the end. But we stayed true to being Patriots, marched to the Capital [sic] and stormed the Frontline ..." read one of Mock's girlfriend's Facebook posts. It was dated Jan. 6, 2021, at 4:23 p.m. and geotagged in Washington.
As for the Johnsons, on Jan. 7, a witness called in a tip that Daniel Johnson had posted a video to his Snapchat story from inside the Capitol building during the riot, according to the charging documents. Eleven days later, another tipster sent in a screenshot of a Daniel Johnson Facebook comment: "I was one of the first ones inside the capitol [sic] building," it read.
An early March tip alleged that both Daniel and Daryl Johnson were inside the Capitol on the day of the riot. After further investigation, the FBI found video footage that showed both men inside the Capitol, as well as more Facebook posts and photos that place them both in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6.
Mock and Daryl Johnson have already had their preliminary court appearances, according to the U.S. attorney's website.
Maya Miller • 612-673-7086
Republicans across the country benefited from favorable tailwinds as President-elect Donald Trump resoundingly defeated Democrat Kamala Harris. But that wasn’t the whole story in Minnesota.
