The Department of Justice (DOJ) believes more police officers were injured in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol than officially reported, a prosecutor said Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves for the District of Columbia said the attack was likely “the largest single-day, mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation’s history.”
“One hundred and forty officers guarding the Capitol that day reported physical injury. But we know from talking to the hundreds of officers guarding the Capitol that day that this 140 number undercounts the number of officers who were physically injured, let alone those who have suffered trauma as a result of the day’s events,” said Graves, who was speaking at a press conference commemorating the third anniversary of the insurrection.
Numerous law enforcement officers who were injured in the attack have left their positions because they are, to this day, physically unable to serve as police officers, Graves said.
Graves recounted the events that unfolded at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and detailed the DOJ’s historic criminal investigation into those who participated, highlighting the department’s efforts to investigate and prosecute individuals who committed crimes that day. He said the public has helped identify scores of people who were at the Capitol the day of the attack, but “the public’s help is still needed.”
The attorney said nearly 900 people have been convicted of crimes committed on Jan. 6. Of the convictions, 149 people have been convicted of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees, 41 of which have been convicted of using a deadly or dangerous weapon for causing bodily injury to an officer, he said.
More than 80 people are still wanted and need to be identified for their acts of violence on that day, Graves said. The FBI is releasing a list of individuals most wanted.
In his presentation, Graves listed the numerous types of weapons that the rioters brought, including guns, tasers, flag poles, knives, baseball bats and more.
The attorney said the statute of limitations for crimes committed on Jan. 6 runs out on Jan. 5, 2026. The DOJ’s work in prosecuting Jan. 6 is “not to win at all costs,” he said, but “to do justice for all.”
“What the events of Jan. 6, 2021, reveal is that our democracy is fragile. The fact that we have existed with peaceful transitions of power for over 200 years is not a guarantee of our future. Nothing is assured,” Graves said.