Another of the Jan 6 rioters was arrested after more than two years of online investigation into the riot.
A man called “Blue Plaid Sprayer” was arrested in Oregon on Jan 23 related to the Jan 6 Capitol riot.
The investigation regarding the riot is still underway as many have already been arrested and many are still to be arrested.
The Arrest
The man was charged with assaulting law enforcement officers while they were protecting the Capitol with chemical spray.
Andy Steven Oliva-Lopez is the man who was constantly featured in an image taken by a Getty photographer three years ago when the riot took place. The photograph has been used frequently since in news articles.
The Details
The image features Andy spraying an orange chemical while wearing a blue shirt. He is wearing a helmet and a gas mask to safeguard himself against the chemical.
The image has been used on various occasions. He was featured in a presentation by the U.S. attorney Matthew Graves and also used in an ad for Joe Biden’s 2024 presidential campaign.
The man was identified by the “Sedition Hunters” which is an online community of intelligence investigators searching for criminals indulged in the Jan 6 Capitol Riot in 2021.
The information was given to the FBI in 2021 and until now his case has been pending along with many such cases where the suspect has been identified but not arrested.
One of the investigators told NBC News that the man called ‘Blue Plaid Sprayer’ had been identified for a long time and was expecting movement on him this month.
The online detectives were able to identify the man through facial recognition which also proved that he had also attended a Trump rally known as “American Lives Matter” at the Oregon State Capitol in September 2020.
His Twitter account was also identified as “Primal American,” where he had posted many pro-Trump messages.
In this account, he tweeted statements like “This will not be over,” in 2020. The account was used to boost Trump’s tweets that played a big part in the Jan 6 incident.
A Thorough Investigation
After the Jan 6 riot, the investigators had kept track of his social media presence. According to the report, he has worked as a contractor in Portland, posting photos of bathrooms, fenced he worked on. He also took many trips which was unacceptable by the investigators after the crime he had committed.
He was arrested just after a day the FBI arrested a Louisiana man who had also attacked the Capitol.
Since the Riot, more than 1200 rioters have been arrested and nearly 900 charges have been announced from unlawful attack to conspiracy.
The investigators are putting lots of effort into arresting the major contributors of the Capitol attack that threatened the Democracy of America.
One of the major arrests was of Enrique Tarrio, the former head of the group “Proud Boys.” He was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
