Florida man charged with throwing explosive device at Jan. 6 riot, hurting officers
A Florida man is charged with throwing an explosive device into a tunnel that injured police officers during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Daniel C. Ball, 38, of Homosassa, was arrested on five felony counts and three misdemeanor offenses, the U.S. Department of Justice announced late Tuesday afternoon, nearly 28 months after the riot. The felonies include using fire or an explosive to commit any felony and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
In a 19-page Statement of Facts, videos from Jan. 6, 2021 showed Ball entering the Capitol building without lawful authority; stealing a piece of a window shutter from the Senate Connecting Corridor;and assaulting Metropolitan Police and U.S. Capitol Police officers.
"Ball's assaults include throwing an explosive device that detonated upon at least 25 officers, forcefully shovingagainst the officers to make entry into the Capitol, throwing a chair or table leg at the entrance, and aiding another subject by handing the subject a large pole right before that subject threw the pole at the officers," said Barry Kays, a Task Force Officer/Special Agent assigned to the FBI's Jacksonville Field Office, in the Statement of Facts.
"Ball’s assaultive conduct occurred at the Lower West Terrace. Ball’s remaining crimes occurred inside the Senate Connecting Corridor."
Suspect was on probation in Florida
Ball has been serving a five-year probation sentence stemming from a crime unrelated to the Jan. 6 attack. Citrus County sheriff's deputies arrested Ball in late April 2021, near his Florida home on charges of battery on five civilians and two law enforcement officers.
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He was convicted on two charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and sentenced to probation.
Kays said he met with Ball's probation officer and showed her 14 printed still shots from video of Ball in Washington, D.C., and the Capitol on Jan. 6.
"Upon viewing the first still shot the probation officer immediately said, 'that's Daniel Ball' " Kays said in the Statement of Facts dated April 27. "Ball was identified in each still shot shown."
Probation officer ID'd Ball at Jan. 6 riot, FBI says
The probation officer then identified Ball in all 14 videos, and in a video where Ball speaks, she identified his voice, the Statement of Facts said, noting she also identified Ball wearing the same jacket she observed him wearing during probation visits.
Ball's first felony conviction was in 2014, Kays said.
Kays wrote that Ball and other rioters were outside the Capitol's Lower West Terrace Entrance and violently pushed "against fully uniformed police officers attempting to keep individuals out of the Capitol Building."
"When that attempt was unsuccessful, Ball moved back into the crowd and threw an explosive device into the entranceway."
An FBI explosives examiner could not determine the size and charge of the explosive device and whether it had been homemade or commercially manufactured. However, the device "was capable of inflicting damage to surrounding property as well as seriously injuring persons in the vicinity of the resultant explosion. Several officers were injured as a result of the explosion," the explosives expert told Kays.
Ball is also charged with obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder; entering or remaining on restricted grounds without lawful authority to do so while carrying or using a deadly or dangerous weapon; knowingly engaging in any act of physical violence while carrying or using a deadly or dangerous weapon; and disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds while carrying or using a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Other Jan. 6 charges include stealing government property
Other charges include misdemeanor disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; acts of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings; and stealing government property.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting Ball's case.
Since Jan. 6, more than 1,000 people have been arrested from nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the Capitol breach. That includes more than 320 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, federal officials said.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Florida man charged with throwing explosive device at Jan. 6 riot
