Samuel LazarLast Updated: January 4, 2022

Lazar was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 dressed in tactical gear, protective goggles and camouflage face paint. As depicted in open source video, Lazar approached a line of police barricades on the west front of the U.S. Capitol where he aimed a cannister of what appeared to be a chemical irritant in the direction of U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers. As depicted in MPD body-worn camera (BWC) footage, Lazar walked along a police line around 1:13 p.m. and grabbed a bike rack, in an apparent attempt to remove it, while discharging a chemical irritant from the cannister in his other hand.

Lazar was told to get back and police deployed a chemical irritant causing Lazar to retreat down the steps. Lazar then turned to face an officer and redeployed his chemical irritant, causing another officer to lose the ability to see. An open source video depicts Lazar, purportedly at 4:30 p.m., stating, “They maced us, those tyrannical pieces of s***, and we maced them right the f*** back and now they’re taking the building.”