Virginia Man Charged with Felony Assault on Officers During Capitol Riot

A Virginia man is now being charged with the January 6 Capitol breach amid the nationwide uprising. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced Thursday that Mark Mercurio, 56, of Bracey, Virginia, had been apprehended in North Carolina. Among other misdemeanor counts, Mercurio is charged with felonies, including assaulting, resisting, or obstructing specific police and obstructing law enforcement during a civil disturbance.

After the events of January 6, Mercurio was arrested by the FBI and made his first appearance in the Eastern District of North Carolina. He is currently involved in a number of similar arrests. According to court filings, he was seen on security camera footage entering the Capitol and then fighting violently with officers. Mercurio allegedly pushed a police officer’s baton into their chest during these altercations, shouted obscenities, and interfered with another officer’s work, according to a statement from the Justice Department.

Over 1,561 people have been charged for their alleged roles in the unrest as a result of the inquiry, which has been ongoing for nearly four years. More than 590 people have been charged with felonies related to assault or obstructing law officers. According to the Justice Department, the FBI’s Charlotte and Washington Field Offices, along with the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department, are working together to hold people responsible for the pandemonium of that day.

Notably, persons from practically every state have been gathered by the investigative net that was created in the wake of January 6. Mercurio’s current arrest brings him to a growing number of those who the law views as responsible for their acts during a day that poses a serious threat to American democracy. Anyone with more information is encouraged by the Department of Justice to come forward and visit the FBI’s tip website or contact the FBI.

With the reminder that defendants like Mercurio are assumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the Justice Department stresses that a complaint is only an allegation while the case moves forward. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is prosecuting this case with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina and the Department of Justice’s National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

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