Feds: PA Man Arrested in NJ for Deadly Capitol Attack on Officer

A Pennsylvania man is among two arrests made in connection with this winter’s deadly assault on U.S. Capitol Officer, Brian Sicknick.

Federal agents arrested 32-year-old Julian Elie Khater, of State College, as he got off a plane at Newark Airport on Sunday, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

George Pierre Tanios, 39, also was arrested on Sunday at his West Virginia home.

Both have been charged with assaulting Sicknick and two other officers with bear spray during the Jan. 6 pro-Trump attack on the U.S. Capitol, as first reported by the Washington Post.

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Khater is seen on video discharging a canister into the face of Sicknick, as well as another Capitol Officer and a Metropolitan Police Officer, according to a federal affidavit of probably cause.

Khater and Tanios are each charged with three counts of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, as well as the following:

• one count of conspiracy to injure an officer
• one count of civil disorder
• one count of obstructing or impeding an official proceeding
• one count of physical violence on restricted grounds, while carrying dangerous weapon and resulting in significant bodily injury
• one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct, act of physical violence on Capitol grounds

Sicknick, a native of South River, died the day after he was attacked by rioters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to federal authorities and court documents.

The fallen officer's exact cause of death has remained publicly unclear, as FBI Director Christopher Wray recently told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the agency is not ready to reveal the exact circumstances.

If convicted, the charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

With previous reporting by Dan Alexander