US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died after responding to hundreds of rioters on January 6
Investigators had struggled for weeks to build a federal murder case in Sicknick’s death as they pored over video and photographs to try to determine the moment in which he suffered his fatal injuries. Investigators determined that initial reports suggesting Sicknick had been struck with a fire extinguisher weren’t true.
The two men are charged with nine counts, with several of them relating to violence and assaulting officers.
Khater and Tanios were spraying police in the face and eyes as rioters tried to remove bike racks being used as barriers to keep the crowd of pro-Trump supporters away from the west and south side of the Capitol building, court records allege.
About an hour into the riot, Khater grabbed for the chemical spray canister. But Tanios told him to “Hold on, not yet … it’s still early,” the FBI said, recounting an open-source video of the scene outside the Capitol.
A Metropolitan Police Officer’s body camera then caught Khater spraying him, Sicknick and another Capitol Police officer from a few feet away.
The court record noted that the police were temporarily blinded by the chemical — as strong or stronger than anything they had been exposed to during police training, they said — and needed help washing it from their faces.
The second Capitol Police officer to have been hit, identified in court records as C. Edwards, has had “lasting injuries” around her eyes including scabbing.
The court record doesn’t mention Sicknick’s death, or how the spray may have contributed to it.
For weeks after Sicknick’s death, federal authorities said they were pursuing a murder investigation. Neither alleged rioters were charged with murder.
Images of both Khater and Tanios had been on FBI fliers seeking information for weeks, and a tipster finally identified them to the FBI. Khater and Tanios had grown up together in New Jersey, the tipster said.
Tanios is the owner of a sandwich shop called “Sandwich University” in the college town of Morgantown, according to court papers, and he wore a Sandwich University sweatshirt on January 6.
Court records show federal authorities also searched Tanios’ property in West Virginia this weekend.
Prosecutors are seeking to keep him in jail pending trial, because he could flee or obstruct justice, and because they believe he is a danger to the community, court records say.
A native of New Jersey, Sicknick joined the Capitol Police in July 2008 and had served in the Department’s First Responder’s Unit. He also served as a staff sergeant for the New Jersey National Guard.
This story has been updated with additional information from court documents.
CNN’s Chandelis Duster contributed to this report.
