MILTON, Ga. — A Milton, Georgia 18-year-old arrested for his alleged involvement in the US Capitol riots is being charged with assaulting a federal officer, and forcing his way onto the Senate floor, among other charges.
That's according to a federal criminal complaint filed with the US District Court in DC.
Bruno Cua, according to the complaint, now faces charges of assault on a federal officer; civil disorder; obstruction of an official proceeding; restricted building or grounds; and entering or remaining on the floor or gallery of either House of Congress, violent entry or disorderly conduct, engage in physical violence, obstruct, or impede passage, and parade, demonstrate, or picket on Capitol Grounds.
According to the complaint, obtained by 11Alive, the FBI was first made aware of Cua's alleged involvement on Jan. 8, when the agency received at least two tips identifying Cua as possibly one of the people seen in the widely-distributed "persons of interest" posters from DC police.
In one of the tips, according to the complaint, a Milton Police officer told the FBI on Jan. 11 they recognized Cua in the poster because of a previous direct interaction they had with the 18-year-old.
After a follow-up phone call between the FBI and the officer, the complaint says the officer gave the FBI screenshots and pictures from Cua's Instagram account - showing him in a similar jean jacket (with a tan trim and lining) and red hat as the person depicted in the "persons of interest" poster.
The Instagram posts also included a screenshot from his "story," in which he wrote he “stormed” the Capitol with others who “physically fought our way in,” according to the complaint.
More pictures and video from the riots - captured by the New Yorker and closed circuit TV, according to the complaint - were included as part of the FBI investigation. In them, the FBI said Cua can be identified in by the jean jacket, sweatshirt, red hat and gloves he was wearing.
The images, according to the complaint, show Cua roaming the Senate floor, and - at one point - getting into a "physical altercation" with a United States Capitol Police plain clothes officer who was armed with a baton. Cua later shoved the officer as he was trying to lock Senate doors, according to the complaint; Cua was later seen walking down the hallway "twirling a baton in his right hand" as he tried to open a door, the complaint said.
Other witnesses - also sworn officers who'd had previous interactions with the 18-year-old - also identified Cua as the person seen in the images.
That, along with Cua's social media posts - including posts shared on Parler that referenced plans to travel to DC on Jan. 6, claiming, "President Trump is calling us to FIGHT" - and a previous Jan. 3 encounter with Milton Police - in which he wore the same jean jacket - all led the FBI to believe there was enough probable cause to charge Cua with the federal crimes.
Cua joins a handful of other Georgians connected to the storming of the Capitol, including south Georgia attorney W. McCall Calhoun, who posted to social media that he was among the first to break into Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the breach, and Cleveland Meredith, who has been accused of making violent threats toward Pelosi.
Another who was arrested following the riots at the Capitol, Christopher Stanton Georgia, died by suicide shortly after his arrest. A Georgia woman, Roseanne Boyland, died in a crush outside the Capitol the day of the riots.