Justice Department photos show accused Jan. 6 rioter Joshua Atwood using a wooden pole to attack officers inside the west terrace tunnel; Atwood’s mugshot from 2011 led the FBI to positively identify him from open-source footage in 2023; a metal pole thrown by Atwood sails over heads of police before ultimately striking an officer. (Photos via DOJ)
A man was arrested by the FBI in Pennsylvania on Wednesday and hit with a series of felony and misdemeanor charges after prosecutors said police-worn body camera and open source footage from Jan. 6 showed him wildly hitting and stabbing at officers at the U.S. Capitol with metal and wooden poles as well as an officer’s helmet and later, a riot shield.
Joshua Atwood, 31, made his first appearance in a federal court room in Pennsylvania’s Western District and has been charged with felony civil disorder, assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon; entering, remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and an act of physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He is also charged with a number of misdemeanors including disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
A partially redacted statement of facts says that Atwood was first identified to police after a tipster informed them that they had recognized Atwood from a 2011 mug shot. A prominent scar on the left side of his forehead had given him away. Then, last May, Atwood was arrested for robbery and malicious assault in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, and a patrolman there, upon reviewing footage of Atwood from Jan. 6, made the connection upon the arrest and alerted the FBI.
Prosecutors say the Burgettstown resident went on a wild tear on Jan. 6, attacking police defending the Capitol by, at times, zeroing his rage in on those police holding the line inside the lower west terrace tunnel. That area saw some of the worst and most violent activity of the day as rioters broke through two sets of doors in the tunnel with the brute force of their bodies and the aid of a variety of blunt and sharp instruments.
Justice Department provided photo shows accused Jan. 6 rioter Joshua Atwood preparing to hurl a metal pole toward officers inside the tunnel of the U.S. Capitol’s lower west terrace.
The battle between the encroaching mob and police inside the tunnel spanned from 3:21 p.m. to 5:04 p.m. and prosecutors say it was during this time that Atwood, close to 4:51 p.m. and again at 5:03 p.m., was seen picking up a variety of objects to hurl at police. He made contact with one officer using a bottle and then quickly threw a “long silver pole” into the tunnel where it sailed over the top of a few officers heads before striking one in the back. He threw a “small square object” into the tunnel next and then moments later, “used a long wooden pole to strike multiple officers using a stabbing motion with a significant amount of force,” the FBI said.
Atwood is accused of hitting two Metropolitan Police Department officers before taking a step back and jamming the pole at another officer before bringing down atop their helmet and across their face plate.
“Atwood then pulled the pole back and threw it in the direction of two MPD officers, hitting their shields and ricocheting off the south wall,” his statement of offense notes.
The pole, or a “metal pipe,” according to the FBI, also hit an assisting Virginia State police trooper’s head and neck.
Atwood allegedly screamed fervently at police on Jan. 6, telling them: “F— you guys, you are all pieces of s—” and “Everyone of you should be ashamed of yourself. Everyone of you mother f—s are pieces of s—. Betraying your country like this, why would you betray your country. Do you love your country or do you want civil … communist f—.”
Left: Joshua Atwood is shown allegedly holding a metal pipe moments before throwing it into a tunnel of waiting officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Right: Joshua Atwood stands in front of a shattered window at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Photos courtesy of the U.S. Justice.) Department.
The Pennsylvania man “at some point” got inside the Capitol after going through a broken window near the tunnel. It led to a room on the Senate side terrace.
It is unclear if Atwood has retained an attorney. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather signed off on the charges, according to a criminal complaint.
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