Alabama man accused of storming Capitol said ‘the spirit of God wanted me to go in’
Published 4:34 pm Thursday, January 14, 2021
Another Alabama man has been charged with crimes related to last week’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday it has charged Joshua Matthew Black of Leeds, Alabama, with illegally entering a restricted federal building and violent or disorderly conduct.
FBI agents and federal prosecutors say Black was one of the dozens of supporters of President Donald Trump who stormed the U.S. Capitol and clashed with police in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College votes of the November Election in which Trump lost to Joe Biden.
Federal investigators say Black was photographed inside the Senate chamber, wearing a camouflage jacket and a red Trump hat, bleeding from his cheek. He had apparently been shot by a projectile.
Further investigators said Black detailed his involvement in online videos (now being used as evidence against him) in which he said the following:
“Once we found out Pence turned on us and that they had stolen the election, like officially, the crowd went crazy. I mean, it became a mob. We crossed the gate.”
“We just wanted to get inside the building. I wanted to get inside the building so I could plead the blood of Jesus over it. That was my goal.”
On the video, Black admitted to having a knife in his pocket.
“I actually had a knife on me, but they never … I had too much clothes on, it was freezing out there, you know, so. I never, I wasn’t planning on pulling it. I just carry a knife because I do. I work outside, and you
need knives, you know. I just, you’re not allowed to carry guns in DC and I don’t like being defenseless.”
The person on the video which prosecutors said is Black said that once inside the Capitol, he “found a little spot, and
there was a glass door, and it said ‘US Senate’ on it. I said I need to get in there. I just felt like the spirit of God wanted me to go in the Senate room, you know.
“So I was about to break the glass and I thought, no, this is our house, we don’t act like that. I was tempted to, I’m not gonna lie. Cause I’m pretty upset. You know? They stole my country.”
Although it wasn’t clear how he eventually got into the Senate chamber, the person on the video said once he did, “I had accomplished my goal. I pled the blood of Jesus on the Senate floor. You know. I praised the name of Jesus on the Senate floor. That was my goal. I think that was God’s goal.”
Another Alabama man, Lonnie Coffman has been charged with more than a dozen federal weapons charges after police say he drove to Washington, D.C., with the intent of distributing weapons at the pro-Trump rally that ultimately led to the Capitol riot. Police say he had multiple firearms, ammunition and 11 Molotov cocktail bombs made with Mason jars and homemade napalm.
An Auburn man, William Watson, has also been arrested and charged after he was identified as having illegally entered the Capitol.