Capitol Rioter Who Had Loaded Gun Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Police

• An Indiana man this week pleaded guilty to assaulting officers during the Capitol attack.
• Prosecutors say Mark Mazza used a stolen police baton to strike officers during the siege.
• Mazza, who brought a revolver to the attack, was also charged with carrying a gun without a license. 

An Indiana man who brought a loaded gun to the January 6, 2021 US Capitol riot — and then subsequently lost the revolver amid the chaos of the insurrection — pleaded guilty this week to carrying a weapon without a license and using a police baton to assault officers during the attack.

Mark Andrew Mazza, 57, originally faced 13 charges stemming from his role in the siege but on Friday agreed to plead guilty to two counts, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon, and carrying a pistol without a license. 

Mazza faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on the assault charge, as well as up to five years in prison on the firearms charge, according to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Both counts also carry possible financial penalties.

Prosecutors say Mazza drove from Indiana to Washington, DC, in a rental car to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the insurrection. According to court documents, Mazza brought a Taurus revolver loaded with three shotgun shells and two hollow point bullets to the rally and then to the Capitol grounds as the siege unfolded. 

At some point during the attack, Mazza lost possession of the gun, he acknowledged in plea papers. Upon returning to Indiana two days later, Mazza filed a false police report alleging the lost revolver had been stolen from his car at an Ohio casino. He later told investigators that he lied about the gun because he was afraid a member of “Antifa” might acquire the weapon and his name was “all over it,” CNN reported. 

Prosecutors said Mazza was part of a mob of rioters near the Lower West Terrace tunnel who clashed with at least 20 police officers during the attack. According to court documents, Mazza held open a set of doors at the tunnel entrance, allowing rioters to physically assault officers with batons, sticks, and stolen riot shields.

At one point, Mazza took a baton from an officer’s hand and used it to strike other officers in the tunnel, hitting one on the arm, according to prosecutors. After hitting the officer, court records say Mazza yelled, “This is our fucking house! We own this house!”

Mazza took the stolen baton with him after leaving the scene and, upon returning to Indiana, used a hand-held rotary tool to remove the weapon’s serial number markings, according to prosecutors. He was arrested in November 2021. 

Mazza is set to be sentenced in September. An attorney for Mazza did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

At least 865 people have been arrested for taking part in the insurrection and more than 300 rioters have pleaded guilty.