Jake Angeli: ‘QAnon shaman’ who stormed the US Capitol wearing horns and carrying spear is charged

A man known as the “QAnon shaman” who stormed the US Capitol wearing horns and carrying a spear has been charged, the Department of Justice said.

Jacob Anthony Chansley, 32, who is also known as Jake Angeli, was charged with entering a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Chansley, from Arizona, was taken into custody on Saturday, a DOJ statement confirmed.

“It is alleged that Chansley was identified as the man seen in media coverage who entered the Capitol building dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress, red, white and blue face paint, shirtless, and tan pants," officials said. “This individual carried a spear, approximately 6 feet in length, with an American flag tied just below the blade.”

Chansley was part of the pro-Trump mob who laid siege to the Capitol on Wednesday while Congress was in session to certify the Electoral College votes for president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris.

The mob broke into the Capitol following a “stop the steal” rally where the president again baselessly claimed that he had been cheated out of winning the presidential election.

Chansley is a pro-Trump supporter, and proponent of the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to the Arizona Republic newspaper.  

He has been spotted at numerous protests and Trump rallies over the last year, often in costume. In February, Mr Angeli was photographed holding a sign that read "Q Sent Me."

AZCentral reported that Chansley would tell those who would listen that Q was "a government agent who wanted to 'take the country back' from pedophiles and globalists".  

A profile from Backstage.com described Chansley as looking for acting work.  

Chansley has called himself a "multi-dimensional or hyper dimensional being" and claims he can "see into these other higher dimensions that these entities - these pedophiles, these rapists, these really high up people ... that they can almost hide in the shadows in". 

Two others were charged in DC federal court alongside Chansley on Saturday, in connection with the riots.

Adam Johnson, 36, of Parrish, Florida, was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building, theft of government property, and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct. Johnson was arrested on Friday and is currently in custody.

Johnson, a married father-of-five, is accused of removing  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern. He was allegedly seen in a widely circulated photo inside the Capitol grinning and waving while carrying the lectern.

Derrick Evans, 35, of West Virginia, was charged with entering or remaining in a restricted and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct. He was arrested on Friday.

Evans, a recently elected member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, streamed live to his Facebook page a video of himself joining and encouraging a crowd unlawfully entering the Capitol, DOJ said.

In the video, Evans is allegedly seen crossing the threshold of the doorway into the Capitol and shouting, “We’re in, we’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!”

The cases are being prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the US Capitol Police.