A former U.S. Army captain and candidate for the Florida House of Representatives was arrested by federal authorities for his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Gabriel Augustin Garcia was arrested Tuesday, according to WTVJ-TV in Miami and the Sun Sentinal.
According to a criminal complaint , Garcia is charged with aiding and abetting civil disorder, unlawfully remaining in a restricted building and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
According to WTVJ, Garcia was in Washington on Jan. 6 when thousands of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol as Congress ratified the results of the 2020 election. Federal authorities say Garcia went live on Facebook as he entered the Capitol.
"We just went ahead and stormed the Capitol. It's about to get ugly," Garcia says in one of the videos, according to WTVJ.
Garcia also allegedly called Capitol police officers "traitors" and taunted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to his followers in his live videos.
Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died as a result of the Jan. 6 riots. A second Capitol police officer who was on duty during the riots died by suicide days later.
In 2020 Garcia ran to represent District 116 — which includes the Miami suburbs — in the Florida House of Representatives. He was defeated in the Republican primary by the district's current representative, Daniel Perez.
