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A Washington DC police officer who tried to stop Trump-supporting insurrectionists from attacking the Capitol on 6 January has revealed that some rioters shouted “‘Kill him with his own gun!” as he lay injured on the ground.
Officer Michael Fanone of DC Metropolitan police described his experience of the attack – which left at least five people dead, including a Capitol police officer – in a harrowing interview with CNN. Fanone said that the frenzied mob was ripping his gear off him, including his spare ammunition, police radio and badge.
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The police officer, who has spent almost 20 years on the force, endured several Taser shocks in the back of his neck before things got worse. “Some guys started getting a hold of my gun and they were screaming out, ‘Kill him with his own gun,” he said.
Fanone is still recovering from a minor heart attack he suffered during the assault.
He told CNN that he would have rather been shot than dragged into that crowd, where he didn’t have any control. While Fanone weighed using deadly force, it was clear to him that he lacked sufficient firepower. Fanone thought that the rioters would still overpower him, and feel like they had a reason to kill him if he had opened fire.
“So, the other option I thought of was to try to appeal to somebody’s humanity. And I just remember yelling out that I have kids. And it seemed to work,” he said in the interview.
Several people then formed a circle around Fanone until help came, saving him. “Thank you, but fuck you for being there,” he remarked of those who encircled him.
Fanone, who works as a plainclothes narcotics detective, put on his uniform and rushed to the Capitol with his partner. He was among the dozens of officers injured while trying to keep insurrectionists, many of whom were armed, from storming the building.
A US Capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick, died of injuries sustained during the attack. Sicknick was reportedly bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher. The FBI is reportedly investigating 37 people in connection with the killing.
“We were getting chemical irritants sprayed. They had pipes and different metal objects, batons, some of which I think they had taken from law enforcement personnel. They had been striking us with those,” Fanone said. “And then it was just the sheer number of rioters. The force that was coming from that side … It was difficult to offer any resistance when you’re only about 30 guys going up against 15,000.”
Another Metropolitan police officer, Christina Laury ,told CNN she arrived at the Capitol around 12.30pm and tried to keep anyone from breaking through the line.
“The individuals were pushing officers, hitting officers. They were spraying us with what we were calling, essentially, bear Mace, because you use it on bears,” Laury said.
“Unfortunately, it shuts you down for a while. It’s way worse than pepper spray … It seals your eyes shut … You’ve got to spray and douse yourself with water. And in those moments it’s scary because you can’t see anything and have people that are fighting to get through.”
“They were getting hit with metal objects. Metal poles. I remember seeing pitchforks. They’re getting sprayed, knocked down,” recalled Laury, who luckily was not hit with anything.
Officer Daniel Hodges, who was seen in video getting crushed in a doorway while fighting back rioters, told CNN: “There’s a guy ripping my mask off, he was able to rip away the baton and beat me with it.”
“He was practically foaming at the mouth so just, these people were true believers in the worst way,” said Hodges, who like Fanone and Laury rushed to help defend the Capitol.
Several other officers managed to rescue Hodges.
Dozens have been charged for their role in the deadly chaos. The Washington DC federal prosecutor recently said he expects that the number of people charged “will grow into the hundreds,” NPR reported.
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