NJ Man Who Saw Fatal Shooting In DC Riots Arrested: Officials

EWING TOWNSHIP, NJ – A New Jersey resident who reportedly was next to Ashli Babbit when she fatally wounded by police has been charged in connection with last week’s riots at the U.S. Capitol, according to federal records.

According to the AP, Thomas Baranyi, was arrested on Tuesday night and charged with disorderly or disruptive conduct. He made a video appearance before U.S. District Judge Cathy Waldor in Newark the same day, who set his bail at $100,000, according to the report; he was later released on an unsecured bond.

Baranyi, 28, gained attention when he gave an interview to a reporter from WKRG, a CBS affiliate, the day of the riots.

Holding out his bloodstained hands, he told the reporter he was there when Babbitt was fatally shot by the police. “We had stormed into the chambers inside and there was a young lady who rushed through the windows,” Baranyi said in the interview.

“It could have been me, but she went in first,” Baranyi said in the interview that went viral on social media.

Babbitt, a 35-year-old air force veteran from California, was shot by a Capitol police officer after she tried to climb through a broken window into the speaker’s lobby during the riots. Five people died in the riots.

According to NJ.com, Baranyi graduated from the College of New Jersey and joined the Peace Corps. He went into basic training for the U.S. Marine Corps but was discharged.

This is a developing story. Patch will have more information as it comes in.