South Carolina family charged in connection to US Capitol riot

COLUMBIA, S.C. — 5 members of a South Carolina household had been among the many folks closest to the doorway to the U.S. Home of Representatives as members of Congress convened to certify the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.

Alan Robinson, Sr., Alan Robinson II, Benjamin S. Robinson, and Brittany Robinson appeared in a South Carolina courtroom Thursday to face prices in connection to the lethal assault on the US Capitol.

All 4 members of the family are charged with the next:

• Getting into and remaining in a restricted constructing or grounds
• Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted constructing or grounds
• Disorderly conduct in a capitol constructing
• Parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol constructing

In response to courtroom paperwork, FBI investigators interviewed a witness who has identified the Robinson household for a number of years. That witness was capable of present social media proof that the people captured in surveillance video on Jan. 6, 2021, had been additionally the identical people in Fb pictures.

Investigators imagine the Robinson household traveled collectively to the capitol on Jan. 6, as seen within the photos beneath.

Video footage that was taken by different rioters and members of the media, in accordance with investigators, reveals 5 Robinson members of the family — one is a minor — getting into the capitol by means of the Senate Wing Door round 5 minutes after the primary rioters breached the constructing.

“From there, all 5 Robinson members of the family went down the corridor to the Crypt on the primary ground and had been a part of the group that breached the police line to realize entry to the remainder of the constructing,” in accordance with investigators. “…They walked into the Speaker’s workplace suite for a couple of moments…then they walked by means of Statuary Corridor to affix a crowd amassing outdoors the Home chamber.”

Investigators wrote a capitol worker recalled in an interview that the Robinsons had been half of a bigger group waving one other crowd to comply with them towards the Speaker’s foyer door.

At one level, officers had been compelled to retreat from the realm due to escalating violence from the gang, in accordance with courtroom paperwork. 

Benjamin Robinson, in accordance with investigators, “used his physique and foot to pound the door” resulting in the Home chamber. On the identical time, a rioter named Ashli Babbitt climbed by means of a damaged window and was shot moments later.

In complete, the Robinson household was contained in the capitol lower than a half hour, in accordance with courtroom paperwork. 

The brand new prices in opposition to the Robinson household spotlight federal prosecutors and investigators’ continuance to seek out these allegedly related to the lethal assault on the capitol. 

To date, greater than two dozen North and South Carolina residents have been charged. A number of pleaded responsible and served jail time.