The sweatshirt was local; the rioter wasn’t.
Federal authorities Friday arrested the man pictured at the U.S. Capitol riot in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, who was wearing a sweatshirt of a Pittsfield gym and health club.
Federal authorities Friday arrested the man pictured at the U.S. Capitol riot in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, who was wearing a sweatshirt of a Pittsfield gym and health club.
Vincent J. Gillespie, 60, of Athol, was among the throng of rioters in the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol “who engaged in pushing, shoving, yelling, and fighting with law enforcement officers,” according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Vincent J. Gillespie, 60, of Athol, was arrested Friday. He is being charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds and related offenses.
Authorities say Gillespie “struggled his way through the crowd” and up to the front line of police officers who were defending an exterior door. He then took a police shield and used it to ram officers while shouting “traitor” and “treason,” according to prosecutors.
As officers fought to hold off the rioters, Gillespie grabbed onto an officer’s arm and tried to pull him into the violent crowd.
In September, the FBI publicized images of the then-unidentified Gillespie in an attempt to put a name to his face, with the special agent in charge of the agency’s Boston outpost saying “no amount of information is too small or irrelevant.”
As he fought with police in the mob that day, Gillespie wore a sweatshirt printed with the logo of Berkshire Nautilus, a local gym and health club. The club’s owner had said he had no clue who the man was, and neither did his members, but derided the suspect’s actions, which he said did not represent his business.
Gillespie was arrested in Athol and is being charged in Washington with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds and related offenses. His initial court appearance was set for Friday.
The case was investigated by the FBI Boston Division’s Western Massachusetts Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI’s Washington Field Office. The agency said the Athol Police Department provided valuable assistance.
