North Jersey man arrested after being identified in Capitol riot surveillance photos – NorthJersey.com
A former Montclair High School student is facing federal charges after he was identified in surveillance photos taken at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Elias Irizarry, a freshman at the Citadel, a military college in Charleston, South Carolina, is accused in a criminal complaint filed by the FBI of attending the riot. He and another man, Elliot Bishai, are seen in photos and videos entering the Capitol by climbing through a broken window, walking down corridors and taking photos next to a statue of Dwight Eisenhower, according to the complaint.
Irizarry was described in the complaint as “wearing a dark red hooded sweatshirt, a red baseball hat, dark-colored gloves, a red face covering and … holding a long cylindrical object in his right hand.”
He and Bishai were identified with the help of tips from witnesses who based the pair’s location on the social media app Snapchat. A relative of Bishai’s said he sent selfies from the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Story continues after this gallery from the FBI complaint.
The two face charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building without lawful authority, knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in any restricted buildings, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to court documents.
They are not accused of any violence.
While a student at Montclair High School, Irizarry was chairman of the Essex County Teenage Republicans. In 2017 he spoke at a Township Council meeting against naming Montclair a sanctuary city. “We need to put Montclair citizens first, not undocumented foreigners,” he said.
His father is veteran soap opera actor Vincent Irizarry, who appeared for years in “All My Children” and “Guiding Light.”
Irizarry remains a cadet a the Citadel pending an investigation, according to the South Carolina Post-Courier, which reported that he received a gold star after earning a grade-point average of 3.7 during his first semester. His Facebook profile says he is studying security and intelligence studies.
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His mother, Lorraine Irizarry, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But she told reporters that her son stopped to thank Capitol police while inside the Capitol, and that he cried when he got home, saying he didn’t expect the protest to be so violent.
She said her son, accused only of misdemeanors, is being lumped in with other Capitol rioters charged with violence.
“When you hear them say things about your child like that, and he’s put in with others that did so wrong, it’s hard,” Lorraine Irizarry said.
Irizarry and Bishai were released on a $25,000 bond after a hearing Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Columbia. A second hearing is scheduled for March 22.
U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat from Montclair who serves the 11th District, was in the Capitol when the riot started and had to shelter in safety. She has demanded an investigation into the riot.
Julia Martin covers Montclair for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: jmartin@gannettnj.com
Twitter: @TheWriteJulia