The Justice Department believes more police officers were injured in the US Capitol attack than have been officially reported, a top prosecutor said Thursday.
In a news conference commemorating the third anniversary of the US Capitol attack, Matthew Graves, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said that January 6, 2021, was “likely the largest single-day, mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation’s history.”
“One hundred and forty officers guarding the Capitol that day reported physical injury, but we know from talking to the hundreds of officers guarding the Capitol that day that this 140 number undercounts the number of officers who were physically injured, let alone those who have suffered trauma as a result of the day’s events,” Graves said.
Several officers have spoken publicly about the barrage of violence they endured on January 6, including those who say they have experienced continuing emotional trauma. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick suffered strokes and died of natural causes one day after the riot, and four other officers committed suicide in the days and months afterward.
In the three years since the Capitol attack, more than 1,200 people have been charged with participating in the riots, according to the FBI. Of those individuals, 452 were charged for assaulting law enforcement officers, the bureau said in a statement Thursday.
Prosecutors also have secured hundreds of criminal convictions in court, including 149 people convicted of assault, 41 people convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon, 87 people convicted of obstruction, and 27 people convicted of entering and remaining on federal grounds with a dangerous weapon.
More than 80 people are still wanted for acts of violence at the Capitol, Graves said, and investigators continue to seek the public’s help in identifying those…
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