GLOCKED AND LOADED
Man nabbed in DC with pistol and fake pass
A Virginia man packing a Glock and more than 500 rounds of ammo was busted trying to drive through a Capitol checkpoint using bogus inaugural credentials, officials said Saturday.
Wesley Allen Beeler, 31, of Front Royal, was taken into custody at 6:30 p.m. Friday after attempting to drive his white Ford pickup through the checkpoint, court papers show.
The nongovernment-issued pass caught the attention of Capitol Police, who have been on high alert since the deadly Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol and ahead of this coming Wednesday’s inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
Beeler’s pickup had “several firearm-related decals” stuck to the rear windshield, court papers said.
“Assault Life,” read one decal with an image of a rifle.
“If they come for your guns give ’em your bullets first,” read another decal, according to the court papers.
Beeler was taken from the truck and handcuffed after telling cops his Glock was under the center armrest.
It held a magazine loaded with 16 rounds of 9mm ammunition plus another round in its chamber, police said.
Police also reported finding “509 9mm rounds of hollow point & ball ammunition” in the truck, “as well as 21 12gauge shotgun shells in a bandolier located in plain sight in the rear cargo area,” according to the court papers. The checkpoint is seven minutes northeast of the Capitol.
Beeler was charged in DC Superior Court with carrying a pistol without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of unregistered ammunition.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Beeler insisted he is actually a security contractor for MVP Protective Services, and had wandered into the checkpoint because he was lost. “I’m a guy trying to do his job and I honestly made a mistake forgetting my firearm in the truck and not turning around,” he said.
In another arrest announced Saturday, the feds nabbed far-right Internet personality Tom Gionet — who calls himself “Baked Alaska” — in connection with the Capitol riot.
Gionet allegedly livestreamed his half-hour romp through the building.
“Patriots are in control!” he screamed, according to the feds. “Unleash the Kraken!”
Later in his livestream, Gionet, a onetime commentator for BuzzFeed, picks up a telephone inside a room in the Capitol.
“America First is inevitable!” he yells into the receiver, apparently to no one. “F--k globalists! Let’s go! We ain’t leaving this bitch!”
Busted in Nashville, Tenn., was Jack Jesse Griffith, 25, who the feds said Instagrammed himself pumping his fist in the air one floor below the Rotunda.
“Trump was our greatest champion and it still wasn’t enough,” Griffith allegedly posted with a crying emoji.
Meanwhile, a DC judge ordered Richard Barnett, the accused rioter photographed resting his boot on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk, to remain in jail pending trial.
Also Saturday, Melissa Byrne, 41, a political organizer, told The Post she tried to warn authorities back in December about “Q Shaman” Jacob Chansley, the horned-headress-wearing accused rioter, after seeing him walking near the Senate holding a metal-tipped spear.
“I flagged down a cop . . . [he] said higher-ups had allowed him to be there.” Capitol Police did not respond to a request for comment.