By Lara Becker
Editor-in-Chief
28-year-old Thomas Baranyi, Ewing resident and College alumnus (‘17), has been arrested by the FBI after he was found to be involved in the Jan. 6 pro-Trump Capitol riots.
According to nj.com, Baranyi had a hearing in Newark on Tuesday before the U.S. District Judge Cathy Waldor. He was charged with “knowingly and willfully” participating in the insurrection. The mob “forcibly entered the U.S. Capitol and impeded, disrupted, and disturbed the orderly conduct of business by the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate,” according to his hearing.
Baranyi was released on unsecured bond after the case was moved to Washington D.C., alongside all pending cases from those involved in the attacks.
The FBI was able to cite Baranyi at the Capitol during the incidents from an interview with WKRG, an affiliate of CBS, which has now been spreading on various social media platforms.
In the video, now taken down by WKRG but duplicated by users on YouTube, Baranyi identifies himself and notes that he was a direct witness to the shooting of Ashli Babbitt, the first fatality of five that resulted from the riot.
“We had stormed into the chambers inside and there was a young lady who rushed through the windows,” said Baranyi. “A number of police and secret service were saying, ‘Get back, get down, get out of the way.’ She didn’t heed the call, and as we kind of raced up to grab people, pull them back, they shot her in the neck.”
In the video, he holds up a hand bloodied from the shooting, after explaining how he entered the Capitol by tearing through scaffolding.
In posts from Baranyi’s father on Facebook, he noted that his son was a former member of the Peace Corps and began U.S. Marine Corps training, but was recently discharged.
According to The Washingtonian, seditious conspiracy, one of the larger crimes the insurrectionists may be charged with, could result in up to 20 years in prison.
