Sports

A former NFL linebacker is charged in connection with the January 6 Capitol attack

By CNN Newsource

Updated

today at 5:16 PM

Published November 15, 2024 8:05 AM

By Hanna Park, CNN

(CNN) — A former NFL linebacker was arrested on Thursday and charged with assaulting law enforcement during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to court records.

Antwione Williams, 31, who was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 2016 and later played for the XFL’s DC Defenders, now part of the UFL, is alleged to be among the first rioters to breach the restricted perimeter of the Capitol during the attack, according to a criminal complaint against him by the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC.

“Williams pushed through a group of rioters that formed … and attacked and overcame the U.S. Capitol Police officers,” according to the complaint.

Prosecutors allege that Williams participated in violent confrontations with law enforcement as part of a mob, and was recorded on police body camera footage pulling bike racks from police and striking an officer on the head, according to the complaint.

He was also allegedly seen on open-source video lunging at an officer who was “deploying spray to prevent rioters from taking one of the bike racks” being used to hold back the crowd, the document says. Williams later “grabbed and pushed two officers” as rioters were trying to shove past police lines, according to the complaint.

In December 2022, the FBI received a tip that led them to the former linebacker after sharing images of people who breached the Capitol. Agents confirmed his identity by comparing riot photos with images from his social media account, according to the complaint.

When he was arrested, Williams had a red key fob for a Chevrolet vehicle hanging from his waist which appeared to match a fob seen on Williams’ belt loop during the riot, investigators said. There is also picture on his Instagram account showing him wearing the same Golf hat he wore at the capitol on January 6th, according to the complaint.

Williams was arrested in Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday and is facing several charges, including assaulting and impeding officers, civil disorder, entering restricted grounds and disorderly conduct within a Capitol building, court documents show.

Williams did not enter a plea Thursday during his initial court appearance in Savannah. He was released on bond and will have his next court appearance on Nov. 21 in Washington.

The attorney who represented Williams in court told CNN he was unavailable for comment Friday.

“After rioters retook the West Plaza, Williams joined in chants of ‘U.S.A.!’ and pumped his fists over his head,” the complaint says. “Williams took a few minutes to treat the effects of having been sprayed during that push, but eventually made his way to the Lower West Terrace.”

The January 6 attack resulted in over 140 police officers being assaulted, as well as damages exceeding $2.8 million, the US Attorney’s office in DC said last week.

More than 1,561 people in nearly all 50 states have been federally charged in connection with the attack, more than 590 of them for assaulting law enforcement or obstructing those officers during a civil disorder, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. About 979 defendants have pleaded guilty and 210 have been convicted at trial.

CNN’s Andy Rose contributed to this report.