Capitol rioter asked family if he could stay with them — one called the FBI, feds say
A man who federal prosecutors said was filmed breaking windows during the Capitol siege was arrested after a family member turned him into the FBI, according to a criminal complaint.
Zachary Alam, 29, was arrested on Saturday at the Penn Amish Motel in Denver, Pennsylvania, WHTM reported. Before his arrest, Alam had been living in Washington, D.C.
Alam faces charges of assault on a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon, destruction government property, unlawful entry on a restricted building, obstruction of an official proceeding and disorderly conduct and violent entry, according to the criminal complaint.
On Jan. 6, former President Donald Trump spoke outside the White House at what he billed as a “Save America Rally,” where he continued to claim that the election was stolen from him and encouraged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill.
Following Trump’s speech, thousands of his supporters marched to the Capitol, tore through barricades and smashed windows as they charged and desecrated the building. Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer, and in the weeks that followed dozens of those rioters have been charged with federal crimes.
The FBI agent who wrote the complaint said Alam’s family member tipped the FBI off on Jan. 14 and gave details about Alam’s identity. The agent said they found Alam’s driver’s license photo and matched it to video from the riot.
According to the complaint, the relative told the FBI that Alam called them after the Capitol riot, wouldn’t disclose his location and said that “he was sorry for what he had done at the U.S. Capitol but he was not going to turn himself into authorities because he did not want to go to jail again.”
The relative also told the FBI that Alam asked to stay with family members, saying the FBI was looking for him.
The agent said that a man identified as Alam was filmed entering the Capitol through a broken window and bypassed U.S. Capitol Police. The man was described as wearing a “black and tan fur-lined hat,” a dark jacket and a black shirt with a red and yellow label.
Alam is accused of facing off with officers guarding the doors of the Speaker’s Lobby, which is located outside the House chamber. Alam was “observed repeatedly punching the glass panels of the doors immediately behind the officers, causing the glass to splinter,” the agent said.
“Seconds after the officers stepped away from the doorway,” Alam allegedly started “kicking the glass panels” and smashed a window with a helmet he took from someone else in the crowd, according to the complaint.
Ashli Babbitt was later shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer while trying to climb through the shattered glass into the Lobby.
The agent also said that Alam “pushed his body up against one of the Capitol Police officers guarding the door” and can be seen in video footage yelling “F— the blue” at police officers.
Alam is being held at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, according to inmate records.
