What should a coronavirus memorial look like? This powerful statement on gun violence offers a model.

Police on Jan. 6 charged only a handful of firearms offenses in Capitol-related cases. Because so few arrests were made on the scene that day, however, investigators say the true number of rioters who were carrying firearms will never be known.

In charging papers, the FBI and Justice Department allege that many defendants discussed bringing firearms to Washington, as well as not carrying them to the Capitol because of the District’s gun laws.

Oath Keepers founder, associates exchanged 19 calls from start of Jan. 6 riot through breach, prosecutors allege

One of those arrested late Jan. 6 for not leaving Capitol grounds was Maryland tow truck driver Christopher Alberts. Police said they stopped him outside the building carrying a loaded black Taurus G2C 9mm handgun on his hip and a loaded, 12-round spare magazine in separate holsters, along with a gas mask, pocket knife and first-aid kit.

The oldest detained defendant, Lonnie L. Coffman, 70, of Alabama was arrested after returning to his truck parked near the Capitol, where police allegedly found 11 homemade, molotov cocktail-type incendiary devices, a rifle, shotgun, two 9mm pistols, a .22-caliber pistol — all loaded — as well as a crossbow, several machetes, a stun gun and smoke devices. Prosecutors alleged that the 11 jars were made with gasoline and melted plastic foam to produce a dangerous “napalm-like” explosion of sticky, flammable liquid.

Other charging and detention documents allege that many defendants discussed leaving weapons in vehicles, parking lots, hotel rooms, bags or with others to ensure quick access.

New York dating coach Samuel Fisher, also known as Brad Holiday, was arrested after allegedly posting on social media photos of himself at the Capitol and with firearms including a pistol and a rifle.

“If it kicks off I got a Vest and My Rifle,” he wrote, according to court documents.

Prosecutors have alleged that Erik Munchel of Nashville stashed weapons in a tactical bag outside the Capitol before bringing a stun gun inside. A search of his home found a legal arsenal of 15 firearms including assault rifles, a sniper rifle and tripod, other types of rifles, shotguns and pistols, a drum-style magazine, and other magazines and ammunition.

Searching the home of Karl Dresch of Calumet, Mich., investigators say they found a backpack containing a Hagerstown, Md., gas station receipt, a Metro transit card, radar detector, handheld radio and 160 rounds of ammunition. In his home they found a 12-gauge shotgun, a Glock pistol, a Remington rifle and a Russian-made AK-47-style rifle compatible with the ammunition.

A Dresch attorney said the weapons were “the type of ordinary firearms that are commonplace in rural households throughout America.” Attorneys for the other defendants have emphasized that they are not accused of weapons-related crimes.

D.C. police Officer Daniel Hodges said in a January interview that one reason he did not draw his weapon during the riot was that police understood the crowd to be armed.

“I knew they had guns — we had been seizing guns all day,” he said. “And the only reason I could think of that they weren’t shooting us was they were waiting for us to shoot first.”

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — FBI agents last year interviewed the gunman who fatally shot eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, the bureau said Friday, as investigators searched the home of the 19-year-old former FedEx employee.

Coroners began the slow process of identifying the victims as family members spent hours agonizing over word of their loved ones. The slayings Thursday night marked the latest in a string of recent mass shootings to rock the U.S.

The shooter was identified as Brandon Scott Hole of Indianapolis, Deputy Police Chief Craig McCartt told a news conference. Investigators searched a home in Indianapolis associated with Hole and seized evidence, including desktop computers and other electronic media, McCartt said.

Paul Keenan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis field office, said Friday that agents questioned Hole last year after his mother called police to say that her son might commit “suicide by cop.” He said the FBI was called after items were found in Hole’s bedroom but he did not elaborate on what they were. He said agents found no evidence of a crime and that they did not identify Hole as espousing a racially motivated ideology.

McCartt said Hole was a former employee of the company and last worked for FedEx in 2020. McCartt said he did not know why Hole left the job or if he had ties to the workers in the facility. He said police have not yet uncovered a motive for Thursday’s shooting but added that law enforcement officers seized a gun from him last year. McCartt also said authorities are still identifying the victims and that not all of the victims’ families have been notified.

Eight people were shot and killed in a late-night shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, and the shooter has killed himself, police said. Multiple other people were injured Thursday night. (April 16)

Hole started randomly firing at people in the parking lot and then went into the building and continued shooting late Thursday night, McCartt said. He said the shooter apparently killed himself shortly before police entered the building.

“There was no confrontation with anyone that was there,” he said. “There was no disturbance, there was no argument. He just appeared to randomly start shooting."

McCartt said four people were killed outside the building and another four inside. Several people were also wounded, including five who were taken to the hospital. McCartt said the slayings took place in a matter of minutes.

Officials with the coroner's office began the process of identifying victims Friday afternoon, a process they said would take several hours.

Police Chief Randal Taylor noted that a “significant” number of employees at the FedEx facility are members of the Sikh community, and the Sikh Coalition later issued a statement saying it was “deeply saddened to learn” that Sikh community members were among the wounded and killed.

The coalition, which identifies itself as the largest Sikh civil rights organization in the U.S., said in the statement that it expected authorities to “conduct a full investigation — including the possibility of bias as a factor.” The coalition's executive director, Satjeet Kaur, noted that more than 8,000 Sikh Americans live in Indiana.

The agonizing wait by the workers' families was exacerbated by the fact that most employees aren’t allowed to carry cellphones inside the FedEx building, making contact with them difficult.

“When you see notifications on your phone, but you’re not getting a text back from your kid and you’re not getting information and you still don’t know where they are … what are you supposed to do?” Mindy Carson said early Friday, fighting back tears.

Carson later said she had heard from her daughter Jessica, who works in the facility, and that she was OK. She was going to meet her, but didn't say where.

FedEx said in a statement that cellphone access is limited to a small number of workers in the dock and package sorting areas to “support safety protocols and minimize potential distractions.”

FedEx Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frederick Smith called the shooting a “senseless act of violence.”

“This is a devastating day, and words are hard to describe the emotions we all feel,” he wrote in an email to employees.

The killings marked the latest in a string of recent mass shootings across the country and the third mass shooting this year in Indianapolis. Five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot and killed in the city in January, and a man was accused of killing three adults and a child before abducting his daughter during at argument at a home in March. In other states last month, eight people were fatally shot at massage businesses in the Atlanta area, and 10 died in gunfire at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said the community must guard against resignation and “the assumption that this is simply how it must be and we might as well get used to it.”

President Joe Biden said he had been briefed on the shooting and called gun violence “an epidemic” in the U.S.

“Too many Americans are dying every single day from gun violence. It stains our character and pierces the very soul of our nation,” he said in a statement. Later, he tweeted, “We can, and must, do more to reduce gun violence and save lives.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was “horrified and heartbroken” by the shooting and called for congressional action on gun control.

“As we pray for the families of all affected, we must work urgently to enact commonsense gun violence prevention laws to save lives & prevent this suffering,” the Democratic leader said in a tweet.

A witness said he was working inside the building when he heard several gunshots in rapid succession.

“I see a man come out with a rifle in his hand and he starts firing and he starts yelling stuff that I could not understand,” Levi Miller told WTHR-TV. “What I ended up doing was ducking down to make sure he did not see me because I thought he would see me and he would shoot me.”

A man told WTTV that his niece was sitting in the driver’s seat of her car when the gunfire erupted, and she was wounded.

“She got shot on her left arm,” said Parminder Singh. “She’s fine, she’s in the hospital now.”

Gov. Eric Holcomb ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until April 20, and he and others decried the shooting.

Chris Bavender, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Indianapolis office, said the bureau is helping with the investigation.

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Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. Casey Smith is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.