Arrests: Several people from Arizona arrested.
Several Arizonans were arrested after a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters raided the Capitol — and Washington, D.C., police said they were looking for an Arizona man spotted in the U.S. Capitol shirtless, in a painted face and a fur bonnet.
A crowd of protesters turned violent Wednesday and stormed the Capitol at the urging of Trump. One person was shot and killed inside, and three others died of other causes during the hours-long takeover, police said.
The insurrection delayed, but did not ultimately thwart, Congress from certifying the presidential election of Democrat Joe Biden.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered a 12hour citywide curfew for the district beginning at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Metropolitan police said Thursday they were asking for the public’s help to find several people of interest. “Anyone who can identify these individuals” was asked to contact the department.
The first person depicted in a list they released was Jake Angeli, a Phoenix man who has made a spectacle at Arizona rallies since at least 2019.
Arizonans arrested
Police agencies released the names of more than 60 people arrested in the Capitol vicinity on charges related to the unrest. Only one was from the District of Columbia, while 11 were from neighboring Maryland and Virginia. Fifty people were from 18 states, while six of those arrested had no fixed addresses.
Arizonans arrested Wednesday or Thursday were identified as:
● Marsha Murphy, 50. She was accused of a curfew violation and unlawful entry. Efforts to reach Murphy were unsuccessful, as her husband said she was in custody on Thursday.
A man who identified himself as Murphy’s husband, Kevin, spoke to The Arizona Republic by phone.
He said the couple no longer lives in Arizona. They moved from Tucson about two years ago to run an ammunition store in Hinton, Oklahoma.
Marsha Murphy is listed as the chief executive of Amer-I-CAN Ammo Enterprises on the company’s website. Her Facebook page, which includes a picture of her in a Trump T-shirt, says she studied at the University of Arizona and Grand Canyon University.
Kevin Murphy said his wife had engaged in a peaceful protest outside the Capitol, but she stayed on the streets after the curfew. He said he learned of her arrest from a Facebook post, and his wife remained in custody.
Kevin Murphy, who retired from the Tucson Police Department in May 2019, said he was disappointed because his wife had promised to return to her hotel after dark. He was concerned for her safety. “I have no problem with people rallying,” he said. “I just wish she had gone back to her hotel.”
● Joshua Knowles, 31. He was accused of a curfew violation and unlawful entry. Calls to his cellphone were not returned.
Maricopa County Superior Court records show that a man with the same name and age, Joshua D. Knowles, served 11⁄ years in prison and was fined
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$9,200 after pleading guilty to a felony drug charge in 2009.
Prosecutors alleged he purchased 5,000 tablets of carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant also known by the brand name Soma, in Mexico for $1,200 and then tried to sell them to a Chandler police officer for $10,000. Court records say he told an undercover officer he would go to Mexico to pick up the pills and “that he has done so numerous times in the past.”
Knowles expressed remorse before his sentencing, said he knew he made a mistake and asked for probation because he had no prior felonies.
Another person arrested matched a person with an Arizona criminal record. Police identified Timothy Austfjord, 57, accused of a curfew violation. A man from Chandler with the same name and age has an arrest record in Maricopa County. A call to that man’s cellphone was not returned.
Man in horned costume seen at Capitol
Angeli, the man with the fur costume and horns, was seen on the dais of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. He posed for a photo flexing the muscles of one arm; the other held a spear from which hung a U.S. flag.
Angeli paints his face and appears bare-chested displaying several elaborate and shamanistic tattoos. Most notably, he wears a fur bonnet topped with horns.
Angeli has attended Trump rallies and was a fixture at protests outside the Maricopa County elections headquarters in Phoenix following the November election.
Angeli also appeared at Black Lives Matter protests against police violence this summer. He said he attended those events to monitor activity and spread the word of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which falsely imagines that Trump is investigating corruption and crimes against children committed by high-level politicians.
Court records show Angeli petitioned to have his name legally changed to Jacob Anthony Angeli Chansley in 2005. In the court petition, he wrote, “I want my last name to be that of my step-father, my dad. I was not legally adopted by my step-father while a minor.” He said Angeli was his mother’s last name.
Angeli did not return a message on Thursday seeking comment. But, on his trip back from Washington, D.C., he did speak with NBC News, insisting his act was simple disobedience. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” Angeli told NBC News. “I walked through an open door, dude.”
He did chalk up the event as a victory. “The fact that we had a bunch of our traitors in office hunker down, put on their gas masks and retreat into their underground bunker,” he said. “I consider that a win.”