A new oral history book provides a chilling, minute-by-minute account of the violent assault on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, drawing on harrowing testimony from the police officers who fought to defend it.
'A Medieval Battlefield' in the Capitol Tunnel
The book, titled 'Storm at the Capitol: An Oral History of January 6th' by Associated Press reporter Mary Clare Jalonick, compiles interviews, court documents, and public records to create a definitive narrative of that day. It details how hundreds of rioters, echoing former President Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen election, breached the building as Congress certified Joe Biden's victory.
By late afternoon, the fiercest fighting centred on the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, the narrow entrance to the inaugural stage. Police officers, exhausted and injured after hours of combat, made a desperate last stand against a relentless mob.
"The rioters were vicious and relentless," said US Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell. "We found ourselves in a violent battle in a desperate attempt to prevent a breach." Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone described approximately 30 officers standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the 10-foot-wide hallway, using their body weight to hold back the onslaught.
Hand-to-Hand Combat and a Fight for Survival
The accounts depict a scene of sheer brutality. "It was just complete hand-to-hand combat," stated Officer Abdulkadir Abdi. The rioters, described by Officer Jesse Leasure as "mostly just like real adults," coordinated pushes and attacked officers with poles, stolen shields, and chemical sprays.
Officers were systematically targeted and overwhelmed. Detective Phuson Nguyen had his gas mask pulled off and sprayed directly in the face before it was snapped back on, trapping the chemicals inside. "I was choking... I thought, that's where I'm going to die," he recalled.
Officer Daniel Hodges became trapped in a door frame, pinned by a stolen shield and the weight of the mob. "I was effectively defenseless," he said. A rioter then used Hodges's own gas mask to beat his head against the door before stealing his baton and striking him with it, rupturing his lip.
Perhaps the most harrowing account comes from Officer Michael Fanone, who was dragged into the crowd. "I heard someone scream, 'I got one!'" he said. The mob beat him, tried to steal his gun, and repeatedly electrocuted him with a Taser. He heard chants of "Kill him with his own gun." In a moment of desperation, Fanone yelled, "I've got kids," which he believes prompted a few in the crowd to help officers pull him to safety.
The Tragic Aftermath and a Nation's Reckoning
The violence had a deadly consequence. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who had texted his brother earlier predicting "hell may break loose," was sprayed directly in the face with chemicals during the riot. Though he initially seemed to recover, texting his brother at 8:21 PM that he smelled of "OC spray and CS gas," he collapsed shortly after. He died suddenly that evening after serving for 13 years.
Sergeant Gonell, describing the scene as "something from a medieval battlefield," confessed he believed he would die, trampled while defending the entrance. The book's excerpts serve as a stark, first-person record of the physical and psychological trauma endured by law enforcement that day, underscoring the severe threat posed to American democratic institutions.
