The death of U.S. Capitol Police Brian Sicknick is being investigated as a homicide by federal and local authorities – a development that raises the stakes of the investigation into possible crimes committed during the violent security breach at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Sicknick was injured while "physically engaging with protesters" who swarmed the Capitol building, Capitol Police said. He collapsed after returning to his office and was taken to a hospital, where he died Thursday night.
The Metropolitan Police Department's homicide branch, the Capitol Police and the Justice Department are investigating Sicknick's death. Any criminal charges related to Sicknick's death will be federal because the events leading up to it happened on federal property, an official with knowledge of the matter said.
Sicknick joined Capitol Police in July 2008 and was part of the department's First Responder's Unit at the time of his death.
"The entire USCP Department expresses its deepest sympathies to Officer Sicknick’s family and friends on their loss, and mourns the loss of a friend and colleague," the agency said in a statement."
Five people, including Sicknick, died, several officers were injured and dozens were arrested after a swarm of pro-Trump rioters descended on the Capitol. The chaos prompted an hours-long lockdown and disrupted what should've been a largely ceremonial counting of state-certified Electoral College votes.
During a call with reporters this week, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. did not rule out the possibility that actions by President Donald Trump, who encouraged his supporters to go to the Capitol as he continued to falsely claim that the election had been stolen from him, will also be under scrutiny.
We're looking at all actors here and anyone that had a role and, if the evidence fits the elements of a crime, they're going to be charged," Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said after a reporter asked if investigators are looking at the role the president played.
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