Who is Christopher Warnagiris? Virginia Marine, 40, who pushed Capitol cop to hold open door for rioters arrested
WOODBRIDGE, VIRGINIA: An active-duty Marine Corps officer stationed at Quantico in Prince William County, Virginia, was arrested on May 13, 2021, for his alleged involvement in the Capitol riots. Christopher Warnagiris, 40, is the first active-duty officer to be arrested in connection with the January 6 insurrection by Donald Trump supporters. He has been charged with multiple federal offenses including assault of a police officer as well as resisting and impeding certain police officers at the Capitol.
He was identified from the security camera footage by a tipster, who revealed his details to the FBI. The tipster had reportedly worked with him for six months in 2019. Following a deeper probe into his background and whereabouts, Warnagiris was eventually arrested from Woodbridge. He is 40-years-old at the time of the arrest.
READ MORE
Who is Christopher Warnagiris?
Warnagiris is a resident of Woodbridge in Prince William County, Virginia where he is currently stationed. In the past, he has lived at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Monroeton and East Stroudsburg in Pennsylvania, Lawton in Oklahoma as well as Washington D.C.
In 2014, he was given farewell from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit where he served as a fire support officer. Later in his career, he was appointed as operations officer for a landing force of U.S. Marines and Navy sailors and even placed not the French Navy amphibious assault ship LHD Tonnerre, according to Conan Daily.
On January 6, 2021, Warnagiris accompanied a huge crowd of insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol Hill building, in a bid to disrupt the validation of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential elections.
At the Capitol, he entered from the East Rotunda side of the building and reportedly pushed past a line of police officers on his way. He even forced his way through the closed doorway, allowing other rioters to storm inside. "When a U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) officer tried to pull the doors shut, Warnagiris refused and continued pushing it open. Warnagiris can be seen pushing the officer in an effort to maintain his position in the open door in security camera footage," states the Department of Justice report about Warnagiris. The incident was captured in the surveillance camera around 2:25 pm that day.
He was donning a dark jacket with green zippers, gloves and carrying a military green backpack as seen in the publicly released video footage. After he was identified by the tipster, FBI agents visited his military command to confirm his identity. They showed his co-worker three photos of Warnagiris as seen during the riots, who then positively identified him. He was eventually arrested on May 13.
The charges against him include assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, obstruction of justice/Congress, knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on U.S. Capitol grounds. Later he was released under certain conditions after appearing at the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Virginia.