In the early afternoon of January 6, 2021, the U.S. Capitol became a battleground as thousands of Trump-supporting rioters breached multiple entrances and pushed lawmakers out of the House and Senate chambers.
## The 4 p.m. Hour
At 4 p.m., hundreds of rioters had already breached several entrances. They forced lawmakers to flee both the House and Senate chambers, halting the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory. An even larger group of people had broken through a long police line and was now aiming at the central golden doors that sit at the center of the Capitol’s West Front, set back in a narrow tunnel that the president walks through on Inauguration Day.
## The Lower West Terrace Tunnel
Police officers used the space just inside the tunnel as a triage area all afternoon. As rioters streamed into the tunnel, a bottleneck formed. The National Guard had not yet arrived, and officers who had already been fighting for hours faced a ferocious last stand.
> “The fighting in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel was nothing short of brutal. Here I observed approximately 30 police officers standing shoulder to shoulder, maybe four or five abreast, using the weight of their own bodies to hold back the onslaught of violent attackers,” said Officer Michael Fanone of the Metropolitan Police Department.
> “The rioters were vicious and relentless. We found ourselves in a violent battle in a desperate attempt to prevent a breach of the Capitol by the entrance near the inauguration stage,” added Sergeant Aquilino Gonell of U.S. Capitol Police.
> “A few people rushed the front of the line, and then that kind of instigated the rest of them to follow suit. At that point, it was just complete hand-to-hand combat, but very little space to maneuver,” recounted Officer Abdulkadir Abdi.
> “It was guys in their 50s, guys in their 30s, guys in their 20s. Not that many really young people, but mostly just like real adults,” noted Officer Jesse Leasure.
> “The tunnel is a narrow and long hallway. It is not the sort of space where anyone would want to be pulled into hand-to-hand combat with an angry mob,” said Officer Michael Fanone.
> “Every about five to 10 minutes, they would switch and then we would end up fighting a new batch of fresh bodies. That just continued on,” explained Officer Abdulkadir Abdi.
> “Someone handed me a pitchfork at one point. It made its way all the way up the stairs. I don’t remember if it was a civilian or an officer, but they said, “I don’t want this being used against you guys.”
> “Even during this intense contest of wills, they continued to try to convert us to their cult. One man shouted: “We just want to make our voices heard! And I think you feel the same! I really think you feel the same!” All while another man attempts to batter us with a stolen shield.”
> “I just heard the dumbest things ever, like “We’re not here to hurt you; just let us through.” While they’re doing all that craziness.”
> “Many of the officers fighting alongside me were calling for shields, because their shields had been stripped from them by the rioters. I was one of the few officers left with a shield, so I spent the majority of the time at the front of the line.”
> “At some point, one of the demonstrators was trying to pull me outside. And luckily I held on to the metal rail.”
> “I was choking under the mask, and I also got knocked down at the same time. And so at that point, I was choking, and I was trying to get up. I (was) panicking.”
> “At some point during the fighting, I was dragged from the line of officers into the crowd. I heard someone scream, “I got one!” as I was swarmed by a violent mob.”
> “In my attempt to assist two MPD officers, I grabbed one officer by the back of the collar and pulled him back to our police line. When I tried to help the second officer, I fell on top of some police shields on the ground that were slippery because of the pepper and bear spray. Rioters started to pull me by my leg, by my shield, and by my gear straps on my left shoulder. My survival instincts kicked in and I started kicking and punching as I tried in vain to get the MPD officers’ attention behind and above me. But they could not help me because they were also being attacked.”
> “The two sides were at a stalemate at a metal door frame that sat in the middle of the hallway. At the front line, I inserted myself so that the frame was at my back in an effort to give myself something to brace against and provide additional strength when pushing forward. Unfortunately, soon after I secured this position, the momentum shifted and we lost the ground that got me there. On my left was a man with a clear riot shield stolen during the assault. He slammed it against me and, with the weight of all the bodies pushing behind him, trapped my arms.”
> “They ripped off my badge. They grabbed my radio. They seized the ammunition that was secured to my body. They began to beat me with their fists and with what felt like hard metal objects.”
> “My body camera captured the violence of the crowd directed toward me during those very frightening moments.”
> “The mob of terrorists…”
> “It’s just the weight…”
> “I vividly heard officers screaming…”
> “It hurt a great deal…”
> “A bunch of bodies…”
> “At this point, I knew that I couldn’t sustain much more damage…”
> “I too was being crushed…”
> “I thought, that’s where I’m going to die…”
> “During the assault, I thought about using my firearm on my attackers. But I knew that if I did that, I would quickly be overwhelmed. So instead, I decided to appeal… I said as loud as I could manage, “I’ve got kids.””
> “When you get amped up…”
> “Thankfully, my voice was heard…”
> “I was telling myself, if you want to see your family again…”
> “I’m yelling, “Hey, I’m out of service, I can’t do this anymore!””
> “I finally was able to hit a rioter…”
## Officer Brian Sicknick
Before the chaos, Brian Sicknick had sent a text to his brother Ken: “F–. I smell like BO, weed, OC spray and CS gas.”
Earlier that night, Ken had sent a message to Brian: “Good luck, man”, and added, “Capitol protests are on the news.”
Brian replied at 4:15 p.m.: “Tell me about it. We’re f—. Talk later. I was pepper sprayed at least twice.”
Ken later wrote, “I knew it was a protest. I didn’t realize how bad it was.”
During the assault, Officer Sicknick was sprayed directly in the face by a rioter. He later collapsed after speaking with fellow officers and was rushed to the hospital, where he was put on life support.
## Aftermath and Death
Inspector Thomas Loyd, U.S. Capitol Police, said, “Officer Brian Sicknick faithfully served the United States Capitol Police for 13 years. He fought valiantly for several hours on January 6. He died suddenly at 8:30 p.m., while returning to the office in the United States Capitol Building.”
Sicknick’s body survived an additional day because his fellow officers worked hard to keep him alive so his family could say goodbye in person on January 7.
## Key Takeaways
– The Lower West Terrace Tunnel became a brutal, hand-to-hand battlefield where officers faced relentless pressure.
– Officer Brian Sicknick was pepper-sprayed, collapsed, and later died after the incident.
– Witnesses describe the violence as a “medieval battlefield” with officers holding their ground against thousands of rioters.
The day’s events illustrate how a single evening of unrest escalated into a violent confrontation that left officers injured and one officer dead, while the Capitol’s certification of the 2020 election was halted.
