PA Man Wanted To 'Take Over Government' In Capitol Riot, Found Guilty

PENNSYLVANIA — A Pennsylvania man who authorities said joined the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and who struck a police officer amid the chaos has been found guilty.

Brian Gundersen, 28, of State College, was convicted on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers. He faces up to 28 years behind bars.

“Sowwy for damage,” the man wrote in a note left inside the Capitol, as the mob around him vandalized the nation's seat of power, according to the FBI.

He added a crying emoticon at the bottom of the note.

Gundersen was identified because he wore his high school letter jacket during the attack, police said.

Members of the community where he went to school in Armonk, New York, recognized the jacket in social media footage and called local police, who in turn notified the FBI. Other members of that community also submitted tips to the FBI independently, according to the criminal complaint.

"We all stormed the us capital and tried to take over the government," Gundersen wrote on social media days after the attack.

The FBI said Gundersen joined a mob of rioters climbing the northwest steps of the Capitol at around 2:30 p.m., eventually climbing up to a window in the northwest courtyard, next to the Senate wing door.

He shouted at officers inside the building before becoming one of the first rioters to enter the Capitol through the the parliamentarian door at about 2:42 p.m., authorities said. Gundersen waved the crowd through the door as others confronted officers.

He then joined the rioters ransacking the parliamentarian’s office who were wrecking furniture and throwing papers to the floor, according to the FBI. That's when he left his "sowwy" note.

He was ultimately forced out of the Capitol by officers at about 3:07 p.m., investigators said.

However, he remained on the grounds, eventually returning to the northwest courtyard and even briefly re-entering the Capitol, police said. When he was forced out again, he joined a mob confronting officers near the northwest terrace, rushing at an officer and striking him with his arm, authorities said.

A different officer holding a riot shield pushed Gundersen back, the FBI said.

Gundersen was arrested just weeks after the riots on Jan. 25, 2021.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2023.

Some 900 individuals nationwide have been arrested in all 50 states for actions during the Capitol riot, with 275, including Gundersen, charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. At leas 60 Pennsylvanians face criminal charges related to the day's events.