FBI criminal complaint
- Bruno Cua, from Georgia, has been charged with assault on a federal officer in the Capitol riot.
- The 18-year-old was seen on video participating in the insurrection on January 6.
- He had urged others to “fight” and travel to Washington, DC, in the days before the riot.
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An 18-year-old from Georgia charged in the Capitol riot was seen on video shoving a Capitol Police officer and said he was called to Washington, DC, to “fight” in the says leading up to the insurrection, the FBI says.
Bruno Cua, from Milton, Georgia, has been charged with assault on a federal officer and civil disorder, among other charges in the Capitol riot.
The FBI said they received at least two tips from people identifying Cua as a participant in the January 6 insurrection, in which five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died.
According to the criminal complaint, the FBI also saw images from Cua’s Instagram story, in which he said he had “stormed” the Capitol building and that he and others “physically fought our way in.”
In surveillance video from the riot cited by the FBI and video footage published by The New Yorker, Cua can be seen wearing a MAGA hat while wandering the halls of the Capitol and walking through the Senate chamber. In some clips, he appears to be holding a baton, the FBI said.
The FBI said the surveillance footage also showed Cua shoving a plainclothes Capitol Police officer who was standing outside of the Senate chamber.
"A number of individuals attempted to gain access to the room that the officers were trying to secure," the criminal complaint said. "Shoving ensued between the officers and at least one of the individuals in the group."
In multiple Parler posts shared before the insurrection, Cua referenced plans to travel to Washington, DC, for then-President Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally - the event that descended into the Capitol insurrection.
"President Trump is calling us to FIGHT! His own cabinet, everyone has betrayed him," Cua said in one post, according to screenshots shared by the FBI. "Its Trump & #WeThePeople VS the #deepstate and the #CCP. He knows this is the only way to save our great country, show up #January6th. It's time to take our freedom back the old fashioned way."
In another post, he said the call to fight wasn't a "joke."
"This is where and when we make our stand," he said. "#January6th, Washington DC."
Cua's Parler account has been deactivated, though WSB-TV reported that the teen also encouraged followers to arm themselves with Tasers, pepper spray, and baseball bats for the riot.
The teen's lawyer did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Cua is among more than 200 people who have been charged in the Capitol riot.
This isn't Cua's first run-in with police - in December police gave him a citation, saying he violated Milton's public disturbance ordinance.
Police said he was cited after officers found him driving his pickup truck around a parking lot while displaying a Trump flag and honking his horn, the Milton Herald reported.