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Two people were arrested and charged in connection with the alleged assault of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick on Sunday.
The two men, Julian Elie Khater of Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, of West Virginia, were taken into custody on Sunday and are charged with nine counts, including assaulting three officers with a deadly weapon.
Initial reports about Sicknick’s death said that authorities believed he was hit by a fire extinguisher, but investigators later suspected that a chemical irritant like bear spray might have been to blame.
Court documents quote Khater as saying to Tanios, “Give me that bear shit,” an apparent reference to bear spray. Khater was allegedly recorded using a spray on Sicknick.
The men are also charged with civil disorder and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. All together, the charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The charges were filed after the FBI was contacted by someone identifying the men from wanted images and surveillance footage. The two men are said to have grown up together in New Jersey.
Autopsy results for Sicknick have still not been released, and federal authorities have stopped short of charging the men with his death.
