An Indiana man has been arrested for carrying a loaded gun on Capitol grounds, assaulting law enforcement, and other crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election.
Mark Andrew Mazza, 56, of Shelbyville, is charged with illegal possession of a firearm on Capitol grounds, civil disorder, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a dangerous weapon, among other charges. He was arrested on Nov. 17, 2021, at his home in Shelbyville and made his initial court appearance yesterday in the Southern District of Indiana. Mazza was ordered held without bond pending his next court proceeding.
According to court documents, Mazza brought a Taurus revolver, loaded with three shotgun shells and two hollow point bullets, to the Capitol. The gun was recovered in the West Front Terrace area shortly after 2:30 p.m. Video footage later shows Mazza in the crowd entering the tunnel to the Lower West Terrace doors at approximately 3:08 p.m. Once the glass doors to the Capitol were breached, Mazza held the doors open in an apparent effort to allow rioters to flow into the building. Holding a baton, he assisted the group in pushing toward officers who were defending the area and joined in assaulting them. He actively swung the baton at police, at one point yelling, “This is our f—- house! We own this house!” He then participated in “heave-ho” efforts to apply significant physical force and pressure on the officers. On Jan. 8, 2021, according to the documents, Mazza filed a false police report in Indiana in which he claimed to have lost his gun in an Ohio casino.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting the case, with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana. The U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office investigated the case, with valuable assistance from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
In the ten months since Jan. 6, more than 675 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 210 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.
