Judge orders suspect in chemical spraying of Capitol officers detained

A West Virginia judge on Monday ordered a suspect in the chemical spraying of Capitol Police officers during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol detained pending trial, according to multiple reports.

The suspect, George Pierre Tanios of West Virginia, was arrested last week and is facing nine charges related to the riots, including assaulting Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and two other agents with a chemical irritant.

Tanios was seen on footage with Julian Elie Khater of Pennsylvania “working together to assault law enforcement officers with an unknown chemical substance by spraying officers directly in the face and eyes,” according to an FBI affidavit.

Neither of the men is charged with killing Sicknick, who is included as one of the five people that died as a result of the attack. Sicknick’s cause of death remains unclear.

During a hearing on Monday, prosecutors argued that Tanios purchased the bear and pepper sprays that he brought with him to Washington, D.C., Reuters reported. One of the sprays was allegedly used by Khater to spray police.

Prosecutors also said they believed that Tanios’s mother would help him flee to Lebanon, his native country, if he was released — a claim that his mother denied, Reuters noted.

The Washington Post reported that during the trial, U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael John Aloi lamented a “culture radicalized by hate” that caused the riot. He further took issue with those who could not respond peacefully to police protecting Congress as they were certifying President Biden’s Electoral College victory.

“Why anyone thought they could be there to interrupt even in any small way, it’s just not healthy thinking for our society. To the extent anyone would accept that cause as normal, it needs to stop,” Aloi said, according to the Post.

More than 400 people have now been charged in relation to the Jan. 6 riot, former acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin said during a CBS News’s “60 Minutes” interview that aired on Sunday. Of that number, more than 100 are accused of assaulting officers.