At least 9 Marylanders among arrests at US Capitol
At least nine Marylanders were arrested in the riots at the U.S. Capitol, including a 33-year-old man facing charges for allegedly carrying a pistol and high-capacity magazine onto Capitol grounds.
D.C. police announced the arrests of about 70 people in all after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol. Those arrested had traveled from Arizona, Oregon, Florida and other states, police said.
One Maryland man, 33-year-old Christopher Alberts, was arrested after he was seen carrying the pistol without a license and the high-capacity magazine, according to D.C. police. It’s illegal to carry guns onto the Capitol grounds.
According to federal court documents filed Thursday, an officer noticed a bulge on Alberts’ right hip as police were they were enforcing a 6 p.m. curfew ordered by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and moving people away from the Capitol building.
The officer was pushing Alberts past a line maintained by Metropolitan Police when he tapped on the bulge with his baton “and felt a hard object that I immediately recognized to be a firearm,” charging documents state. Alberts was also wearing a bulletproof vest at the time, the officer wrote.
The officer then informed two other officers that Alberts had a firearm and Alberts, “apparently hearing that, immediately tried to flee,” but the three were able to detain him, federal court documents state.
Officers seized a 9 mm handgun with one round in the chamber and twelve in the chamber, documents state. The officers also found an additional 12-round magazine, a gas masked and a backpack that contained a pocket knife, first-aid medical kit and “one packaged military meal-ready to eat (MRE).”
Alberts has been charged in U.S. District Court in D.C. with violating federal laws that prohibit individuals from carrying firearms while on the U.S. Capitol grounds.
Alberts could not be reached for comment. No attorney is listed as representing him in online court documents.
Six of the Marylanders, two of them teenagers, were arrested for allegedly violating the curfew. Three of them were also charged with illegally entering the Capitol grounds.
District of Columbia did not provide addresses for any of the Maryland people arrested.
U.S. Capitol Police issued a separate list Thursday afternoon, saying that a Glenwood woman was charged with unlawful entry during the riot, while a Clarksburg man was charged with assaulting a police officer.