A man was arrested by the FBI in connection with January’s Washington riots after his former classmates sent detectives evidence including Facebook Live videos allegedly showing him inside the Capitol Building.
Dillon Homol, 22 and from Florida, was detained by federal agents on Tuesday.
The FBI said they received two tips identifying Homol as one of the rioters inside the Capitol, both of whom were former classmates who told officers that the suspect was streaming to Facebook Live while storming the building.
Both witnesses sent detectives video recordings from Homol’s Facebook profile, Facebook Live videos, and Snapchat story, which allegedly showed him inside and around the Capitol building from around 3 p.m. on the day of the riots.
Court records said that a Snapchat video showed him holding a “Make America Great Again” flag and a red Trump hat.
In one Facebook clip, the FBI said Homol stated: “It’s the Capitol building, they are counting the electorals in there right now and we stormed it. Look at them Trump flags up top.” The court document says Homol then flipped the camera towards his face and said: “They can’t stop us all, come on we are going into the Capitol, can’t stop us all.”
In another Facebook video seen by the FBI, Homol allegedly stated: “American people are sick and tired of it, we’re tired of it, the communist cops of Washington DC, we’re storming the Capitol building. We’re storming the Capitol, this is our country.”
The FBI said further footage streamed on Facebook appeared to show him inside the Capitol and surrounded by rioters.
Detectives said they pinpointed his location by comparing the video to bronze statues that feature in the halls of the Capitol Building.
Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Homol has since deleted his Facebook and other social media accounts, but investigators said they were able to determine that he was livestreaming from the Capitol by comparing Facebook search warrant returns with videos submitted to the FBI tip line.
The court documents state that at the end of January, FBI agents interviewed his mother at her home in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
She allegedly confirmed her son was in Washington at the time of the riots but claimed he was there “on vacation.”
The FBI conducted a phone interview the same day with Homol when detectives say he admitted to participating in the events at the Capitol building on January 6.
He claimed that he walked to the Capitol building at Donald Trump‘s request and thought the president was leading the crowd there, the FBI said.
Court documents detailing the interview state Homol believed he had done nothing wrong and had not been in prohibited areas on the day of the riot.
Homol is accused of obstruction of congress, entering and remaining in a restricted area or grounds and disorderly or disruptive conduct inside the Capitol buildings.
He appeared in the U.S. District Court in Orlando on Tuesday and was released on $25,000 bond.
