Indiana man charged with carrying loaded firearm to Capitol on Jan. 6

An Indiana man was arrested on Friday on charges of bringing a loaded gun to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. 

Mark Andrew Mazza was arrested in Shelbyville, Ind., and was “charged with illegal possession of a firearm on Capitol grounds, civil disorder, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a dangerous weapon, among other charges,” said a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C. 

The 56-year-old appeared in court in the Southern District of Indiana last week and will be held without bond as he awaits his next court proceeding, the statement added. 

Mazza allegedly carried a loaded Taurus revolver to Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, when he was part of a group that pressed toward and assaulted officers, swinging a baton at police and yelling, “We own this house,” according to the statement.

Mazza’s gun was found in the West Front Terrace area shortly after 2:30 p.m. — and video from the day showed him entering a tunnel to the Lower West Terrace doors shortly after 3 p.m., court documents said. 

A few days after the attack, on Jan. 8, Mazza filed a false police report claiming he lost the gun in a casino in Ohio, prosecutors said. 

Mazza had previously told his children that if U.S. Capitol Police came to his home, where he was eventually arrested, he would surrender, the Indy Star reported. 

“They can have me,” he said, per the Indy Star. “Because I may go down as a hero.”

Nearly 700 people have been arrested across the country on charges of crimes related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol earlier this year. More than 200 people face charges related to assaulting or impeding law enforcement.