An Oregon man was arrested Tuesday on felony and misdemeanor charges in connection to his actions during the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.
Andy Steven Oliva-Lopez, 27, was charged with felony offenses of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain law enforcement officers as well as a civil disorder charge, according to the announcement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
According to an affidavit filed in D.C.’s District Court, Oliva-Lopez was identified as the man wearing a blue plaid long sleeve shirt and deploying a yellow/orange chemical aerosol directed at officers while at the Capitol on Jan. 6. The photo of the man has been used in numerous news articles as well as in a campaign ad by President Biden, NBC News first noted.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office release said Oliva-Lopez was among a crowd of “violent rioters” who “were engaged in conflicts with assembled law enforcement officers” outside the Capitol building.
At about 2:04 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, Oliva-Lopez allegedly sprayed the chemical aerosol “multiple times,” striking at least one Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer in the face shield, according to the affidavit. He was also photographed wearing a full-face respirator at times, the court document said.
According to the affidavit, Oliva-Lopez was seen “climbing past the temporary scaffolding” that was put up for the inauguration in public videos of the riots posted online. The document noted that the scaffolding was “in an area that was not open to the public.”
He was also charged with misdemeanor offenses of disorderly and disruptive conduct, an act of physical violence in a restricted area and an act of violence in the Capitol area.
More than 1,265 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attacks, according to the D.C. Attorney’s Office. This includes more than 440 people charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
