WASHINGTON — A conspiratorial Donald Trump supporter who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was arrested near the home of former President Barack Obama on Thursday, a law enforcement official told NBC News.
Taylor Taranto, 37, who was identified by online sleuths in August 2021 and faces trial from the widow of a Metropolitan Police Department officer who died by suicide, recently stood for sentencing of David Walls-Kaufman, his co-defendant in the trial. The lawsuit accuses the pair of involvement in an assault on MPD officer Jeffrey Smith on January 6, which they both denied.
While Walls-Kaufman was arrested last year and has already been convicted, Taylor has not been charged.
For the past few weeks, Taranto has been living in a van near the DC jail, according to his social media, and has repeatedly wondered in online posts why he hasn’t been arrested yet on Jan. 6. Taranto also posted a video of himself on YouTube. inside the Capitol during the riot.
The Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that Taranto was arrested under an outstanding warrant, although the department did not specify what the warrant was for, and that he was charged fugitive from justice. Officers at the scene asked the explosive ordnance disposal team to sweep his van near where he was arrested, the department said, adding there was no active threat to the community.
Earlier Thursday, a Truth Social account that uses the same screen name that Taranto uses on other social media accounts, reposted a message from Trump that included what is believed to be the address of Obama’s house in Washington and noted that the house is located near A mosque. “I surrounded them! wrote the Truth Social account.
NBC News also looked into Taranto’s Telegram account. His last post was a link to a website touting conspiracy theories about the Obama house.
It was not immediately clear when Taranto would make a court appearance.
An Obama spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com