Man Who Signed His Name On Camera During Capitol Riot Is Arrested
A New York man has been arrested after he was identified with the help of videos that show him signing his own name outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and confirming it multiple times on camera, according to the FBI.
Gabriel Brown, a Proud Boys supporter, was identified by social media users in the immediate aftermath of the insurrection as an affiliate to multiple far-right groups who appeared in widely viewed clips of an angry mob destroying media equipment outside the Capitol.
He was arrested in Bayville, New York, on Wednesday and charged with four counts, including destruction of property, disorderly and disruptive conduct, and violence on Capitol grounds.
He recorded video while he was in the crowd that breached metal barricades at a media staging area outside the northeast corner of the Capitol and smashed cameras, lights and other property, an FBI agent said in an affidavit.
In that footage, published on YouTube with the title “media equipment destruction gabriel brown gb0083,” Brown reportedly encouraged people to smash and steal property.
“You know what, the media did not want to do its job so now they fucking can’t. We’ll do it! We got the cameras. We got the freaking voice. We’re going to go out and do it,” Brown said at one point in the video, according to the affidavit.
At another point, he reportedly told a person who was also filming, “My name’s Gabriel Brown GB0083 YouTube channel.”
In different footage filmed outside the western entrance of the Capitol, Brown addressed a crowd through a bullhorn and called for a “violent revolution,” the FBI reported.
“You stole the Senate from us, you stole the House from us, and now you think you’re going to steal the presidency from us?” he said, according to the affidavit. “Let me tell you something — you want to take peaceful revolution away from us? Well you better prepare for fucking violent revolution. I don’t want violence. I believe in peaceful resolve. But you’re making it goddamn impossible for us.”
Later in the evening, Brown was allegedly recorded signing “Gabriel Brown Freedom!!” on a “Stop the Steal” banner attached to a trailer. The person filming addressed him as “Gabriel, Mr. Brown,” to which he reportedly responded, “Yup.”
That video was posted on Twitter in early February by a citizen investigator with the hashtag #SeditionHunters. A link to the tweet was cited in the affidavit, just the latest example of how the FBI is responding to tips and leads generated by an expansive network of online sleuths working to support the manhunt.
A picture of Brown has been on the FBI’s wanted list since the early days of the investigation, though he was identified at the time only as ”#Photograph 204: AOM,” an acronym for assault on media. He was profiled in February by Vice News, which reported his attendance at multiple fascist events on the East Coast prior to the Capitol riot that included the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
His arrest comes nearly six months after a mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
The FBI just passed its 500-arrest milestone in connection to the riot. Hundreds more arrests are still expected.
It was not immediately clear Wednesday evening if Brown had made his first court appearance.
