According to a Statement of Facts from Special Agent William Whitfield of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) based out of Rock Springs, a Bedford man has been identified as a person who allegedly assaulted a police officer in the incident at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2020. 

According to the documents, Whitfield utilized open-source videos from the scene and identified a man wearing goggles, a gas mask and a backpack who used a flagpole with a metal ball on the end to hit law enforcement officers.

In response to the FBI alert the FBI received information from a confidential human source (CHS) who believed the suspect to be Douglas Harrington, age 68, of Bedford, Wyoming. 

“I reviewed the additional videos and photograph that the CHS provided to the FBI,” Whitfield stated. “The subject had several commonalities in clothing, physical features or items carried to the person depicted in the photograph and videos.”

The investigation also pointed to multiple social media posts related to the 2020 election such as:

“It’s not for you then im going out to DC to fight for our country’s integrity if biden gets in we have but allowed satin free pass to lie cheet steal WITH TBE HELP OF CHINA, . . . 6 JANUARY 2021 IS THE DAY WE MARCH ON WASHINGTON DC THE WHOLE REASON FOR FREEDOM IS SOMEONES BLOOD PAYS THE PRICE”

In the days after the riot, HARRINGTON wrote the following messages to an intimate partner and other associates:

On January 8, 2021, HARRINGTON wrote “We caused the riot because the government devils dont get it[.]”

On January 11, 2021, HARRINGTON wrote “We should have grabbed all of the traitors and waited for military tribunals”

On January 14, 2021 HARRINGTON wrote “We were pushng the police backwards”

On July 28, 2021, HARRINGTON wrote “I want them all in prison starting from VP pence down to mitch mcConnel”

On the one-year anniversary of the event, Harrington posted the following:

““YOU FIGHT THE WAR WITH BULLETS THIS F****** TIME!! LAST TIME WE MARCHED WITH FLAGS,” he posted on the conservative social media app GETTR in March 2022. “ITS JUST LIKE 1776 YOU MEN  … LET THE FBI DO THEIR THING. THERE ARE MORE OF US THAN THEM THEY CAN’T LOCK US ALL UP YOU MORONS.”

Whitfield stated that he believed that Harrington “violated 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1) and (b) which makes it a crime to to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with a federal officer while they are engaged in their official duties where such acts involve physical contact with the victim of that assault or the intent to commit another felony, and separately provides for enhanced penalties when a dangerous instrument is used and bodily injury is suffered.”

Harrington was arrested in California on six federal charges. If convicted he could face up to 75 years in prison.