Consequences from the January 6 attack on the Capitol have been pouring in steadily as individuals are identified.
Some of the people have been identified because they posted on social media, essentially confessing. Others have been turned in by concerned people in their lives.
Troy Elbert Faulkner, a Columbus Ohio man, wore his contact info on his jacket.
Faulkner was caught on video smashing a window when violence broke out and needed to be identified to face criminal charges. According to the FBI's criminal complaint, it wasn't hard. The jacket certainly made it easier, but it's very likely Mr. Faulkner would have been caught and identified even without it.
The FBI report laid out the following:
- Faulkner was already well known to his local police since they'd arrested him in the past, so when an officer saw him on the video, he reported it to the FBI.
- An FBI agent saw a YouTube video of the riot and noticed the jacket. That agent was able to use the search feature on the Ohio Secretary of State website to confirm Faulkner as the business owner.
- Faulkner called a hotline to turn himself in, the callback number he left was the same one that is on the jacket.
- An officer with the local police confirmed Faulkners ID with the FBI agent. He stated that he was positive about the ID and had arrested Faulkner in the past.
- Faulkner bragged about his participation on Facebook, quipping "We took it to there front door, unlike the p**** ass BLM" Faulker did use "there" rather than "their." His profile picture shows him in a red MAGA had with a "White Lives Matter" frame.
After the story came to light, the business owner expressed regret to a local media outlet... kind of.
"It seemed the cops were antagonizing us and letting them straight into the building in the front so I believe it was all set up for the Trump people. I knew I shouldn't have kicked in the window. I was upset and wasn't thinking rationally."
Interestingly, Faulkner then claimed the reason he was upset and not thinking rationally was because he had been shot in the chest by police, shrapnel hit his face at one point and he felt using tear gas on the mob was inappropriate, conflicting with the above statement.
Multiple people were killed that day, and multiple officers who responded have since lost their lives to suicide. Faulkner claims he was not part of any violence.
Twitter was far from shocked at how things went down.
Faulkner faces multiple charges stemming from the January 6 riot.
@PaulRieckhoff/X