HOUSTON – The FBI has arrested a fourth person in the Houston area in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Shane Jenkins, 43, was arrested Friday morning at his northwest Houston home, according to the FBI. He now faces several charges stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection that led to the death of five people, including a police officer.
According to federal court documents, Jenkins is charged with assault on a federal officer, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, damage to federal property, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds and two counts of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority.
According to the criminal complaint, Jenkins was identified by someone who was researching people seen in public footage of the riot. According to the document, the person watching the video could see Jenkins pull out a “small crowbar” and smash a window near a tunnel in the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol.
According to the document, FBI agents found social media accounts belonging to Jenkins and saw photos and videos of himself at the riot that had been posted. Agents said that in the video, Jenkins can be seen using a hatchet to break a window in the Lower West Terrace area.
Brian Wice, KPRC 2 Legal Analyst said, “In this situation, three of these five offenses are felonies that carry substantial time in a federal penitentiary.”
Wice also weighed in on the details outlined in court.
“If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a video is worth 10,000. And there is nothing more damaging, nothing more prejudicial and nothing more inculpatory,” Wice said.
Investigators said that security camera footage from the day of the riot shows Jenkins throwing things like a desk drawer, a pipe and a flagpole at both Capitol and Metropolitan police officers.
”The majority of these alleged perpetrator’s were done in by their own words, their own videos, their own text messages and again this defendant is no different,” Wice said.
Jenkins is the fourth person from the Houston area to be arrested in connection with the riot. Joshua Lollar, Wilmar Montano Alvarado and former Houston police officer Ted Pham have also been charged.
After a federal court appearance Friday afternoon, Jenkins remains in custody and is scheduled to be back in federal court Monday morning for a hearing.