Federal authorities arrested and charged a former Chapel Hill businessman on Sunday for assaulting a U.S. Capitol police officer who later died after the January 6 riot.

Julian Khater — the former co-owner of Frutta Bowls in Chapel Hill — faces several charges for assaulting Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick with bear spray during the riot. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Khater’s charges on Monday, as well as charges against George Tanios of West Virginia on similar charges for assault on Sicknick.

Photo from Officer Sicknick’s memorial (Photo via AP/Brendan Smialowski)

Khater co-owned and managed the Frutta Bowls location with family members from January 2018 to January 2019. According to WRAL, he then moved to a different franchise of the chain in State College, Pennsylvania – which has since also closed.

Khater and Tanios are each charged with one count of conspiracy to injure an officer, three counts of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, one count of civil disorder, one count of physical violence on restricted grounds, and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct among many other charges.

The Associated Press reports that investigators initially believed that Sicknick’s death was caused by a hit to the head from a fire extinguisher, based on statements collected early in the investigation. As investigators have collected more evidence, however, the theory of the case has evolved and they now believe Sicknick may have ingested a chemical substance — possibly bear spray — that may have contributed to his death.

According to the Department of Justice, Khater is the man in a video obtained by the FBI that showed him spraying Sicknick and others with bear spray.

“Give me that bear [expletive],” Khaner says to Tanios in the video. Tanios replies, “Hold on, hold on, not yet, not yet… it’s still early.”

The federal department said the video then depicts Khater retrieving a canister from Tanios’ backpack and walking through the crowd to within a few steps of the police perimeter. He then aimed the canister in the officers’ direction and sprayed.

Sicknick died after defending the Capitol against the mob that stormed the building on January 6, but the final cause of his death has not been determined.

This report was contributed to by Elle Kehres and Brighton McConnell. 

 

Featured image via AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana.

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