‘Traitors get shot.’ Capitol riot suspect threatened family when he got home, feds say
The family of a man accused of taking part in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol says he warned them against turning him in to authorities, according to an affidavit signed by an FBI agent.
Guy Reffitt of Texas was arrested by FBI agents earlier this month on a warrant issued Jan. 15 for “unlawful entry,” the affidavit says. Photo and video from the scene of the Capitol attack show Reffitt on the West Front of the building wearing a camera on his helmet and seemingly using a water bottle to wash out his eyes.
“Based on my training and experience with chemical irritants, and my knowledge and review of the civil unrest at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, it appears that Reffitt was at or past the police line protecting the Building and was sprayed in the eyes with some sort of chemical irritant,” agent Thomas Ryan wrote in the affidavit.
Additionally, the affidavit says GPS data associated with Reffitt’s cell phone show he was in the area of the Capitol on Jan. 6. Reffitt told FBI agents he was at the Capitol on the day of the attack but did not go inside the building.
Now, the FBI says Reffitt is accused of obstruction of justice.
When agents executed a search warrant at Reffitt’s home in Texas on Jan. 16, his adult son informed agents that Reffitt told him and other relatives he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and went to Washington, D.C., to “protect the country,” the affidavit says. He also told family members he and others “stormed the Capitol” and that he recorded some of the events using the camera on his helmet.
Reffitt later told his son and daughter, who is a minor, that he had to “erase everything” because the FBI was watching him and told them that if they “crossed the line” and turned him in to authorities, he would “do what he had to do,” Reffitt’s son told agents, per the affidavit.
When his son asked Reffitt if he was threatening them, Reffitt told him not to put words in his mouth, according to the affidavit. His son told the FBI he took the statements as a threat.
Reffitt’s wife, who was also at the home during the search, told agents that the son and daughter told her that, during an argument on Jan. 11, Reffitt told them they would be traitors if they turned him in and that “traitors get shot,” according to the affidavit. She said the two were “very upset.”
She told agents, however, that she did not believe Reffitt would act on the warnings and that the family did not feel threatened but was “disturbed” by his “extreme statements.”
Reffitt’s wife told agents she later confronted him about the argument and that he repeated what he said about “traitors.” When she told Reffitt he couldn’t say things like that because he “was essentially saying (he) would kill them,” she told agents that Reffitt responded that “he was trying to protect the family, and if someone was a traitor then that’s what’s going to happen.”
Reffitt’s wife also told agents that he is a member of the “Three Percenters” organization and that he is “super passionate” and “sometimes says things he doesn’t mean,” the affidavit says.
The group is part of “the militia movement,” and “supports the idea of a small number of dedicated ‘patriots’ protecting Americans from government tyranny,” according go the Anti-Defamation League. The name is based on the inaccurate belief that only 3% of Americans fought against the British during the Revolutionary War.
During the search of Reffitt’s house, FBI agents also found an AR-15 rifle and a Smith & Wesson pistol, the affidavit says. Reffitt told agents he bought the pistol during his drive to D.C. but that he “disassembled it to comply with the law” in the district.
“Based on my training and experience, and the information provided in this affidavit, there is probable cause to believe that on or about January 11, 2021, in the Western District of Texas, GUY WESLEY REFFITT did knowingly and willingly commit Obstruction of Justice,” Ryan wrote in the affidavit.
Reffitt is one of four North Texans who have been arrested in connection with the siege, according to The Dallas Morning News. Dozens of arrests have been made across the country, with at least 170 cases opened, The New York Times reports. Officials have said they could end up arresting hundreds.
The Jan. 6 violent attack — during which rioters in support of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol while Congress was certifying the Electoral College results and which resulted in five deaths — has heightened concern about more violence leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday.
Thousands of members of the National Guard have been arriving daily in the district, with 25,000 members authorized to help provide security at the inauguration, ABC News reports. The FBI and Secret Service have also boosted security measures, according to The New York Times.
This story was originally published January 18, 2021 at 2:51 PM with the headline "‘Traitors get shot.’ Capitol riot suspect threatened family when he got home, feds say."
