Two Men Charged With Assaulting Brian Sicknick With Bear Spray

Two men were arrested on Sunday and charged with assaulting Brian Sicknick, the Capitol police officer who died following the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Julian Elie Khater, 32, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, are charged with nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon and civil disorder and obstruction, according to The Washington Post.

Prosecutors allege that the two men sprayed bear spray inside the Capitol, including directly into Sicknick’s face, according to an FBI affidavit. Sicknick, who joined the Capitol police in 2008, died a day after the attack on the Capitol building.

Federal authorities have yet to confirm Sicknick’s cause of death.

News reports soon after the riots said that he was attacked with a fire extinguisher inside the Capitol. Reports later came out that investigators doubted that Sicknick was hit with a fire extinguisher and that he may have died from a stroke or other medical emergency.

Khater and Tanios have not been charged directly in connection with Sicknick’s death. The Post reported that they will appear in federal court on Monday.

A tipster identified Khater and Tanios after the FBI released a notice seeking information on men seen in surveillance video inside the Capitol, the FBI affidavit says.

Federal prosecutors say that Khater is seen on video spraying a canister of bear spray into Sicknick’s face.

“Give me that bear shit,” Khater allegedly told Tanios in a video recorded near where Sicknick was standing with other officers, according to the affidavit.

Four other people died during the Capitol riots, in which a group largely made up of Trump supporters breached the Capitol building to protest a vote being held to confirm the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was fatally shot by a police officer inside the Capitol as she entered a restricted area of the building. Three other people died during the riot from other medical incidents.