Top Capitol Police official describes how close Jan. 6 rioters came to igniting even worse bloodshed
The quick thinking of Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman may have prevented a shootout at the doors of the Senate chamber on Jan. 6, 2021, a top Capitol Police official said Friday.
Inspector Thomas Loyd, testifying in the trial of five members of the Proud Boys leadership charged with seditious conspiracy, recalled the outnumbered Goodman’s effort to lure the first wave of rioters inside the Capitol to a position away from the doors of the Senate and toward a waiting line of Capitol Police officers.
In a famous video of the incident, Goodman lures the group of rioters — which included one of the Proud Boys defendants, Dominic Pezzola — up a staircase and away from the unguarded Senate doors. For a moment, one of the rioters, Douglas Jensen, considered veering away from Goodman and toward those doors. But he ultimately followed Goodman and ran into the line of police reinforcements.
“If those doors had been breached,” Loyd told jurors, “most likely there would’ve been gunfire at that point.”
Loyd was among the line of officers waiting for Goodman to lead the group to a safer position. He came face to face with Jensen — who is seen in famous Jan. 6 images wearing a QAnon sweatshirt while confronting Capitol Police. Jensen came right up to Loyd’s face, and directly behind him was Pezzola, who was still carrying a stolen police riot shield that he had used to smash two Capitol windows — igniting the breach of the building.
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NEW: USCP Inspector Thomas Loyd told the Proud Boys jury today that had the mob chasing Eugene Goodman veered right — toward the unguarded Senate doors — instead of left, there would likely have been a lot of gunfire and bloodshed. https://t.co/y1NhBjgzzE
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 13, 2023
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