Lafayette man arrested in connection with U.S. Capitol riot days after sharing story

A Lafayette man who said last week he was among the protestors who stormed the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 was arrested Thursday.

Vaughn A. Gordon, 50, was arrested in Lafayette. He made his initial appearance Thursday afternoon via videoconference before federal Magistrate Judge Patrick Hanna in Lafayette, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana in Lafayette.

He faces two charges in connection with the Jan. 6 riot: One count of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol buildings.

Gordon told Baton Rouge Advocate reporter Paul Cobler during a gathering at the State Capitol on Saturday that he was among the crowd of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, disrupting the Congress as it attempted to certify results of the November presidential election which Trump lost.

Gordon said he roamed the U.S. Capitol for a couple of hours and shared selfies of himself inside the rotunda. Gordon called the Jan. 6 event a riot, but said he was peaceful and did not vandalize anything inside the Capitol.

Others broke windows and doors, stole computers, smashed benches and ransacked offices. Some rioters, armed with baseball bats, flag poles and bear spray, clashed with police, killing one Capitol Police officer. One protester, a woman who was a veteran, was shot by an officer as she climbed through a broken door window leading to the Senate lobby. Three other protesters suffered other medical events and died.

The House and Senate convened later that evening and certified the election results. Joe Biden is scheduled to be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on Jan. 20.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday impeached Trump for a second time for inciting the rioters who stormed the Capitol.

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