Capitol rioter Mark Mazza, 56, of Indiana, is facing up to eight years in prison after being arrested and charged with carrying a loaded firearm to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Mazza reportedly told investigators that if he had found Speaker Nancy Pelosi, “you’d be here for another reason,” Politico reported, citing court documents posted over the weekend.
Prosecutors allege that Mazza carried a Taurus revolver known as “The Judge,” which is capable of firing shotgun shells — two of which were in the chamber, along with three hollow-point bullets. A Capitol Police sergeant obtained the weapon after allegedly fending off an assault from Mazza, Politico reports.
According to the charging documents in the case, two Capitol Police investigators visited Mazza at his home in Shelbyville, Ind., on March 29, and he admitted attending the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally and later marched with the crowd to the Capitol. Camera footage shows Mazza present during the most intense hand-to-hand violence of the day in the Capitol’s lower West terrace tunnel.
“I thought Nancy [Pelosi] and I would hit it off. I was glad I didn’t because you’d be here for another reason and I told my kids that if they show up, I’m surrendering, nope they can have me, because I may go down a hero,” Mazza told investigators, according to Politico.
Other defendants charged in the riot allegedly carried knives, bats, crowbars and other weapons to the Capitol. But Mazza’s case is the most clear-cut yet of a loaded firearm on Capitol grounds that day.
As noted by Politico, “Mazza faces charges of obstructing Congress and the FBI investigation of the Jan. 6 attack, as well as carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds and obstructing police, as well as a D.C. code violation for bringing an unlicensed firearm into the city.”
