Capitol riot: SC man indicted for allegedly assaulting officers on Jan. 6, DOJ says

Timeline of the riot at the US Capitol on Jan. 6

What started as a congressional and democratic exercise in the peaceful transfer of power, devolved into death, destruction and chaos.

WASHINGTON - A South Carolina man was indicted for his alleged involvement in the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to a Department of Justice news release.

George Amos Tenney III, 35, of Anderson, South Carolina, was indicted on three felony charges which included assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, being involved in civil disorder and obstructing an official proceeding.

Additionally, Darrell Youngers, 32, of Cleveland, Texas, was charged with four misdemeanors.

Both Youngers and Tenney were arrested on June 29 after criminal complaints were filed against them, the DOJ said.

FILE - Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.

Tenney allegedly wrote on Facebook prior to Jan. 6, "It’s starting to look like we may siege the capital building [sic] and [C]ongress if the electoral votes don’t go right. We are forming plans for every scenario," according to the DOJ.

Surveillance video from the Jan. 6 insurrection allegedly showed Tenney and Youngers entering the U.S. Capitol together at 2:19 p.m. and they eventually made their way to the East Rotunda doors, the DOJ said.

Tenney then allegedly sought to force open the doors from the inside to help more rioters get into the building.

"He also grabbed an employee of the House Sergeant at Arms, locked arms with a U.S. Capitol Police officer, and pushed another Capitol Police officer," the DOJ news release continued.

Both Tenney and Youngers allegedly retreated to the Rotunda, the DOJ added.

The Capitol riot left seven people dead during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot by a Capitol officer and three other Trump supporters who suffered medical emergencies. Two police officers died by suicide in the days that followed, and a third officer, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed and later died after engaging with the protesters. A medical examiner determined he died of natural causes.

The Justice Department and FBI are still hunting for scores of rioters nine months later. The struggle to find all who were involved reflects the massive scale of the investigation and the grueling work still ahead for authorities in the face of an increasing effort by some Republican lawmakers to rewrite what happened that day.

Part of the problem is that authorities made very few arrests on Jan. 6. They were focused instead on clearing the building of members of the massive mob that attacked police, damaged historic property and combed the halls for lawmakers they threatened to kill. Federal investigators are forced to go back and hunt down participants.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has since received countless tips and pieces of digital media from the public. But a tip is only the first step of a painstaking process — involving things like search warrants and interviews — to confirm people’s identities and their presence at the insurrection in order to bring a case in court. And authorities have no record of many of the attackers because this was their first run-in with the law.

So far, more than 650 people have been arrested across the U.S. for their alleged involvement in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, according to the DOJ. As of Oct. 25, over 190 people have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.