A student at Gallaudet University has been arrested and charged for trying to enter the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection. Police say Vitali GossJankowski was seen wielding a Taser that may have been used against a D.C. police officer who was attacked by a mob of Trump supporters.
In a statement of facts submitted to a D.C. judge on Monday, a police detective says that GossJankowski was seen on video standing in a crowd trying to force his way into the Capitol through a tunnel on the building’s west side. He allegedly helped pass a ballistic shield that had been taken from a police officer back through the crowd, and was later shown activating a Taser as he pushed himself “through the crowd of violent individuals towards the police line that was protecting the entrance to the U.S. Capitol building.”
After an image of his face was circulated on wanted posters put out by the FBI, multiple people on social media identified him, including some in the city’s deaf community (Gallaudet is the world’s only school specifically designed to be barrier-free for students who are deaf and hard of hearing). Social media users said that he posted messages and videos about the incident at the Capitol on his Facebook page, and the postings were later deleted.
In one Facebook screenshot shared with DCist, an account bearing GossJankowski’s name wrote that he was outside the Capitol from 2 to 5:15 p.m., and that standing in the crowds was “like hell football practice… it was very violent” (GossJankowski played football at Gallaudet). He said he “did not protest violently,” doubted the people there were actually Trump supporters, and later said that “more than a dozen deaf leftists” threatened to report him to the FBI. “The cops won’t touch me,” he wrote. “Lol.”
GossJankowski, who lives off of H Street NE, opted to turn himself in to police. He was first questioned on Jan. 14 — while wearing the same blue jacket he had on in the video from Jan. 6 — where he allegedly told police “he never went inside of the building and that he went to the U.S. Capitol out of curiosity.” He also told police that he found the Taser and “discarded [it] in a trashcan outside the U.S. Capitol building.”
GossJankowski was questioned a second time three days later, when police asked him about an attack on D.C. Police Office Mike Fanone, who had been dragged into a crowd of Trump supporters, assaulted, and tased multiple times. He suffered a mild heart attack during the assault.
“[GossJankowski] recognized Fanone in the snapshot and described him as the officer with tattoos on his neck. He said he did not use his Taser on Officer Fanone, but if he touched him, he touched his helmet and it was merely to help him,” wrote the D.C. detective in the statement of facts.
GossJankowski did not respond to a message sent to him via Facebook, and it remains unclear when he will appear in court or if he currently has an attorney. Robert Weinstock, a spokesman for Gallaudet University, confirmed that GossJankowski is currently enrolled at the university.
“Gallaudet University is aware of potential student involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. We are investigating internally and also cooperating with law enforcement officials,” Weinstock said. “Gallaudet condemns violence and will not tolerate involvement by any student, employee, or vendor in violence. Anyone engaged in violence will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including expulsion or termination.”
Aubrey Moorman, a student at Gallaudet who occasionally interacted with GossJankowski, says he was known for holding “extremely radical alt-right views.” After the Jan. 6 riots — and GossJankowski’s alleged Facebook postings on them — Moorman says he “started following more closely because I wanted him to be held accountable for the terrorist attack on our beloved country.” He eventually reported the incident to the university.
“I am relieved to learn that he was arrested yesterday and will face the consequences for his actions,” said Moorman.
In a separate case, a man from Capitol Heights, Maryland has also been charged for allegedly beating a D.C. police officer with a baseball bat during the storming of the Capitol. Emanuel Jackson turned himself in to D.C. police on Monday and allegedly admitted to beating the police officer. A Silver Spring man was arrested and charged Sunday for being in a restricted area outside the U.S. Capitol; investigators were able to place him there because of location data from a court-ordered GPS monitor he was wearing.
Prosecutors have also charged Thomas Edward Caldwell, who lives outside Winchester, Virginia, for allegedly taking part in the storming of the U.S. Capitol. In a court filing, they say that Caldwell “appears to have a leadership role within the Oath Keepers,” a right-wing militia.
According to the George Washington University Program on Extremism, 80 people are now facing federal charges for participating in the chaos at the Capitol, and federal prosecutors have said they expect to charge many more.
Martin Austermuhle