Former Detroit Lions player charged in Jan. 6 riot
Leander Antwione Williams, a linebacker who played with the Lions in the 2016 season, is charged with two felonies in connection with the attack on the Capitol in 2021.
by Phil Helsel | NBC News · 5 NBCDFWFormer Detroit Lions linebacker Leander Antwione Williams was arrested in Georgia on Thursday and is charged with assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, federal prosecutors said.
Williams, who went by Antwione Williams in the NFL, played for the Lions during the 2016 season.
He was arrested in Savannah and is charged with felony counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, and obstruction of law enforcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.
He’s also charged with three misdemeanors related to entering and remaining on restricted Capitol buildings and grounds, disorderly conduct and acts of physical violence.
Williams, 31, is accused of joining others in the pro-Trump mob as it attacked police to enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, following months of lies about an election that Trump lost.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Williams “confronted and overpowered” Capitol Police officers at a perimeter line, tried to grab a bike rack from an officer attempting to clear a plaza, swatted riot-control spray from another officer, and “struck an officer on the head with a forceful arm motion."
An attorney listed as representing Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment after business hours Thursday evening.
Williams had been known as "AFO-419" — the acronyms is for "Assault on Federal Officer" — on photos that the FBI put out trying to identify people in the mob.
In December 2022 someone sent a tip to authorities that it could be Williams, citing an Instagram account, an FBI agent wrote in a statement of facts filed in the criminal case.
The FBI interviewed Williams at his home in 2023 and noticed a red key fob similar to one seen in the Jan. 6 video, the FBI agent wrote.
In August, the FBI reviewed credit card statements associated with Williams that showed payment at a parking near a Washington metro station, about a 10-minute ride from the Capitol area, that was made on Jan. 6, 2021, the statements of facts says.
The mob that attacked police and entered and ransacked the U.S. Capitol, causing around $1.5 million in damage, were in Washington for a rally held by Donald Trump, who was president at the time, the same day that Congress was formally counting the electoral votes in Trump's 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
Trump in November won re-election to the White House for a second, but not consecutive, term.
More than than 1,561 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, and of those, more 590 have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, according to the Department of Justice.
Michael Kosnar contributed.
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