A Florida man who was awaiting trial on federal charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion died last month of an apparent suicide, according to a report.
The man had been accused by the FBI of entering the U.S. Capitol and swinging a PVC pipe that he had improvised as an American flag pole at officers.
David Homol, 55 of Umatilla, Florida, was arrested and charged with numerous felonies and misdemeanors in January as the FBI continues to aggressively pursue people who visited Washington to protest the certification of the 2020 election.
Homol was scheduled to go before a judge on May 21, but the trial was canceled because of his death, according to WUSA-TV in Washington.
The outlet reported no cause of death was given by an attorney for the suspect.
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However, according to The Epoch Times, a Panama City Police Department report said Homol died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
It said he took his own life sometime between 6 p.m. on April 17 and 8:55 a.m. the following day.
Officers found him dead in his car with a handgun in his lap on April 18, the outlet reported.
Homol was identified as a criminal suspect late last year by the Department of Justice when his younger half-brother, Dillon Homol, was charged with four misdemeanors related to the Capitol incursion following the “Stop the Steal” rally.
The older Homol was called as a witness for the defense, and the FBI then pursued him for prosecution.
The bureau’s Washington office bragged about his arrest on social media.
Florida Man Arrested on Felony and Misdemeanor Charges for Actions During January 6 U.S. Capitol Breach https://t.co/dcHiogVSk4@FBITampa @USAO_DC
— FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) January 10, 2024
In January, Homol was charged with felony counts of obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding police.
In a news release in which the DOJ boasted that it had gone after 1,265 people in a three-year period for alleged crimes on Jan. 6, the department said:
“In addition to the felonies, Homol is charged with several misdemeanor offenses, including knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or ground, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and act of physical violence on Capitol grounds.”
The DOJ claimed to have amassed evidence that Homol wore an American flag bandana and a helmet and acted aggressively with the PVC pole.
A charging document alleged he was seen “swinging his flagpole multiple times at officers” and battled with two of them, one of whom nearly took the improvised flag pole from him.
Have the Jan. 6 defendants’ Sixth Amendment rights been violated?
The DOJ also obtained warrants of his social media accounts and phone and covered messages between him and others.
One message the FBI said Homol sent to his half-brother read, “Today was not an antifa-inspired statement. It was totally done by angry Trump supporters with no firearms, many singing GOD bless America, Jesus saves, etc.”
Another message read, “The corrupt politicians should be relieved this was NOT an Armed rebellion. It clearly was a statement of strength of We The People.”
As WUSA noted, Homol is only the latest person to die while being aggressively pursued by the federal government on charges related to Jan. 6.
Others include John Anderson of Florida, Joseph Barnes of Texas and Matthew Perna of Pennsylvania.
Like Homol, Perna took his own life, according to authorities.
The FBI has yet to announce any arrests in the arson of the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, which was set ablaze during a left-wing riot in Lafayette Square four years ago later this month.
