A State College man was charged this week for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Brian Gundersen, 26, was identified after multiple people in the community of Armonk, New York, recognized him after spotting a Byram Hills High School varsity jacket in videos of the mob that stormed the Capitol during the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory, according to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI.
Gundersen attended and played high school football at Byram Hills. He now resides in State College with his mother.
He is charged with unlawfully entering a restricted building, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds to impede government business, disorderly conduct in the Capitol and demonstrating in the Capitol buildings.
According to the statement of facts in the complaint, a police chief in North Castle Township, New York, contacted the FBI on Jan. 12, to report multiple people saw the varsity jacket during news coverage and that the individual was believed to be Gundersen, who was known to local law enforcement there.
The FBI subsequently received “a number of tips” about Gundersen, an agent wrote, including photos from his Facebook page showing him wearing the same varsity jacket.
On Jan. 19, agents interviewed a witness who has a close personal relationship to Gundersen. The witness allegedly said Gundersen was “an avid supporter of former President Trump” and a follower of far-right commentator and activist Nick Fuentes. The witness and Gundersen traveled from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., on the night of Jan. 5 to attend former President Donald Trump’s rally that preceded the riot the next day, but that the two became separated the morning of Jan. 6.
Later that night Gundersen allegedly told the witness that he followed the crowd into the Capitol and wandered around the halls but was not violent. The witness identified Gundersen as the person in the varsity jacket, according to the FBI.
A second witness who allegedly spoke to Gundersen while he was in the Capitol also confirmed it was Gundersen wearing the jacket in a photo.
In an interview with FBI agents, Gundersen initially denied going inside the Capitol but admitted it was him wearing the varsity jacket in the photos, according to the complaint. During a subsequent interview, Gundersen allegedly said he did go into the building but was pushed in by the crowd and remained inside for 10 minutes.
An FBI analysis of Gundersen’s phone allegedly found messages he wrote to others in the days prior to the riot, including that he and others “might be able to bum rush the [W]hite [H]ouse and take it over” and that he was going to “an event” at the Capitol “in 2 days that’s going to have millions of people to protest the results of our election.”
The day after the riot, Gundersen shared a picture of members of Congress taking cover during the insurrection and wrote “Look at these scared little bitches,” according to the complaint. He allegedly sent a message on Jan. 8 that said “We all stormed the us capital [sic] and tried to take over the government. We failed but f–k it.”
On Jan. 13, he sent a photo of the individual in the varsity jacket at the riot and wrote, “They might have found me.”
U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania Magistrate Judge William Arbuckle III released Gundersen to his mother’s custody after he turned himself in and appeared in court by video on Wednesday.
His next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.
