Six months later, law enforcement still searching for 300 Capitol riot suspects

The Justice Department is still searching for around 300 suspects six months after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The Associated Press reported that the FBI website asking for information related to the Capitol riot consists of more than 900 photos of about 300 people who are marked as “unidentified.”

The search is on for these hundreds of rioters even after the Justice Department has already arrested more than 500 people, the AP reported, some of whom have pleaded guilty.

One of the most sought-after suspects in the Capitol riot case is an individual who has been seen on camera placing two pipe bombs in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, one near the Republican National Committee headquarters and the other close to the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

The FBI said it is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the location, arrest and conviction of the person, or people, responsible for the planted pipe bombs.

One explanation as to why a number of suspects are still unidentified and have not yet been arrested is because law enforcement authorities were focused on protecting the Capitol, the individuals inside and clearing out the building the day of the incident, rather than apprehending rioters, the AP noted.

Authorities are now faced with the challenge of using tips from the public, social media and “sedition hunters,” referring to armchair detectives who are helping with the investigation, to identify and track down rioters.

The Justice Department last month charged its first Capitol rioter who allegedly attacked the media. 

Last week, a third member of the Oath Keepers pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with the riot.

An AP analysis found that dozens of the more than 500 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack have been accused in court documents of trying to delete photos and other content from their phones and social media accounts to conceal their participation.

The wire service noted, though, that only a handful of riot defendants have been charged with tampering with evidence in connection to the deletion of information from their phones and social media accounts.

–Updated at 10:25 a.m.