A Burgettstown man is facing charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Joshua Lee Atwood, 31, was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday. Charges against him include assaulting police with a weapon.
He was identified after the FBI received a tip. It was discovered that Atwood had been arrested in 2011, and his mugshot from that arrest and a current photo of him both include a scar on the left side of his forehead.
According to the FBI, Atwood was arrested in New Cumberland, Pa., last year for charges of robbery and malicious assault. A patrolman involved with the case who was “familiar with Atwood’s appearance” identified him in photos from the Capitol riot.
After reviewing Metropolitan Police body camera footage, Atwood is shown attacking law enforcement officers multiple times while they were defending the Lower West Terrace “Tunnel” between approximately 4:51 and 5:03 p.m., the FBI said. At one point, authorities say, he is seen throwing objects, including a bottle and a “long, silver pole,” at officers in the tunnel. Open source videos and photos also show Atwood joining rioters inside the Capitol building in a room just inside the tunnel entrance.
He also used a long wooden pole to “strike multiple officers using a stabbing motion with a significant amount of force,” the FBI said.
Atwood hit officers on their helmets and face shields with the wooden pole before throwing it and using a stolen police shield to strike another officer’s shield, the FBI said.
Police say body camera footage captured Atwood yelling profanities at law enforcement as he swung the stolen police shield.
He is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with felony offenses of civil disorder, assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and an act of physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Atwood also is charged with misdemeanor offenses of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; acts of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
More than 1,300 people have been charged with federal crimes in the attack on the Capitol, ranging from misdemeanor offenses such as trespassing to felonies like assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. Roughly 730 people have pleaded guilty to charges, while about 170 have been convicted of at least one charge at a trial, according to an Associated Press database.
Haley Daugherty is a TribLive reporter covering local politics, feature stories and Allegheny County news. A native of Pittsburgh, she lived in Alabama for six years. She joined the Trib in 2022 after graduating from Chatham University. She can be reached at hdaugherty@triblive.com.