A man who carried what appeared to be a hammer at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, got into a standoff Thursday with the FBI for hours before special agents arrested him for his role in the riot, law enforcement officials said.
The FBI arrested Eric Christie on Thursday after several hours in which he refused to cooperate with authorities after they arrived at a home in Sherman Oaks, California. Two law enforcement officials confirmed his arrest.
Online sleuths had identified Christie as a Jan. 6 participant, and images show him on top of a law enforcement vehicle on the east side of the Capitol, wrapped in rainbow flag and with what appears to be a hammer hanging from his belt. The law enforcement activity took place at an address associated with an Eric Christie.
Christie was previously named by a defense attorney in another Jan. 6 case, in which the court filing suggested he was a "suspicious actor" and questioned why he hadn't been arrested yet. He was publicly identified by the anti-fascist activist and security researcher Chad Loder in February 2021.
Christie was a Trump supporter who was spotted at his rallies in the Los Angeles area, as was Gina Bisignano, another Jan. 6 defendant, and a rioter nicknamed "Swedish Scarf," who has been charged alongside Daniel "D.J." Rodriguez, who admitted to the FBI that he drove a stun gun into the neck of former police officer Michael Fanone on Jan. 6.
Another Jan. 6 defendant, Edward Kelley of Tennessee, was arrested last week and accused of plotting to kill FBI special agents who worked on his case.
