More than 700 people have been arrested in connection with their alleged participation in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
However, one suspect law enforcement officials say they are still looking for is the individual who placed pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters the previous night.
On the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, an individual wearing a hoodie and backpack was captured on grainy surveillance video placing pipe bombs outside the RNC and DNC headquarters.
The pipe bombs were discovered on Jan. 6 as Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Steven D’Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, told ABC News on Tuesday, “They would have exploded. They could have exploded.”
“They are viable devices that could have gone off and exploded, causing a lot of serious injury or death,” he added.
However, the FBI has not caught the individual or released information about a “person of interest.”
As ABC News notes, “On a normal night, a person wearing a hood, a face covered with a mask would raise suspicions, but because of COVID-19, the person blended in.”
FBI says newly released images show person suspected of leaving pipe bombs at RNC and DNC headquarters the night before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in Washington, D.C. A reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect stands at $100,000. https://t.co/IIJAfQZB6k pic.twitter.com/Y47UgnrwBY
— ABC News (@ABC) March 9, 2021
D’Antuono told the network, “It’s still a priority for us, has always been a priority since day one to find this individual, and we haven’t stopped since the day that we found the devices.”
The FBI has conducted over 900 interviews related to this case and collected 39,000 video files and 400 tips about the suspect.
While law enforcement officials believe the suspect is not from the Washington, D.C. area, they said they do not know if the individual is a man or a woman.
D’Antuono said, “This person laid or planted two viable explosive devices in a residential and commercial area that could have done people harm.”
“We want to catch this person before they do someone else harm,” he added.
As The New York Times notes, law enforcement officials estimate that as many as 2,500 people could be charged with crimes for their alleged participation in the riot. Prosecutors say that includes at least 1,000 incidents of assault.
So far, at least 225 individuals have been charged with attacking or interfering with the police, roughly 275 have been charged with obstructing Congress’ certification of the 2020 presidential election, and over 300 have been charged with petty crimes such as trespassing and disorderly conduct.
