WASHINGTON – A man from Shelbyville plead guilty Friday to charges for entering the U.S. Capitol with a loaded gun during the January 6 riots and assaulting a police officer.
According to court documents, 57-year-old Mark Mazza brought a Taurus revolver, loaded with three shotgun shells and two hollow bullets to the Capitol. He later lost the revolver while on U.S. Capitol grounds just before 3 p.m.
Mazza broke into the building after he made his way to the Lower West Terrace and a tunnel area with doors leading into the Capitol Building. He joined other rioters to push through at least 20 officers who were defending the tunnel entrance.
Around 3:15 p.m. court documents say Mazza moved to the front of the tunnel line, next to the first set of doors. He held open the doors, allowing other rioters to attack officers with flag poles, batons, sticks and stolen law enforcement shields, which they used to force their way through security. Mazza later took a baton from an officer’s hand and used it to hit officers at the entrance while yelling “this is our f—- house! We own this house!”
Mazza was later pushed out of the tunnel by law enforcement, but he stayed on Capitol grounds until flash bang grenades were thrown by security later that afternoon.
On January 8, 2021, according to the documents, Mazza filed a false police report in Indiana claiming to have lost his gun at an Ohio casino.
Mazza was arrested on November 17, 2021, at his home in Shelbyville. He pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon and carrying a pistol without a license. His sentencing is scheduled for September 30, 2022 and could face up to 25 years in prison.
