A Texas family of five was arrested Tuesday for taking part in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Members of the Munn Family traveled by car nearly 1,600 miles to D.C. prior to the riot and insurrection, and court documents allege they illegally entered the U.S. Capitol.
Tom Munn, 54, and Dawn Munn, 55, traveled with three of their kids — Kristi Munn, Kayli Munn and Josh Munn — along with an unidentified minor child from Borger, Texas, in the panhandle.
They were identified from surveillance footage crawling through a window at 2:25 p.m. on Jan. 6, just five minutes after Vice President Mike Pence and members of both the House and Senate were evacuated from the chambers. The House and Senate had met to certify the electoral college vote for President of the United States.
Family members initially denied entering the capitol when interviewed by federal authorities but both public social media posts and private messages told a different story.
“We were in the Capital [sic] !! … Just keep that bit of info on the DL for right now,” said Kristi Munn to a friend on Facebook messenger. “There was no security..No national guard !!”
Members of the family posted many images from the protest preceding the insurrection and on right-wing platform Parler. They also posted images and videos from within the building. Tom Munn was identified in part from a red Bolger Bulldogs hooded sweatshirt he was wearing at the time. Several images and videos inside the capitol appear to show him and other members of the family walking the halls.
“I need to tell you that the media is LYING TO YOU,” said Tom Munn in a Facebook post where he went on to minimize damage done to the Capitol building and said there was no violence.
Five people died as a result of injuries sustained or medical emergencies at the Capitol, including one police officer. According to one Capitol architect, there was at least $30 million in damages.
According to court documents, the FBI was first notified of the family’s involvement with the protest and insurrection by an unidentified tipster who knew Kristi Munn’s fiance. The tipster provided screenshots from social media and new corroborating information about Kristi Munn, 29. She would later delete the Facebook profile.
The members of the Munn family who were arrested range in age from 23 to 55 years old but court documents list two minor children in the family one of whom traveled with them to D.C. and one who did not.
The family was arrested Tuesday and was scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Amarillo Wednesday morning.
According to the arrest affidavit, they will be charged with “knowingly entering a restricted building” and trying “to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business.”
More than 500 people have been arrested stemming from the Jan. 6 attack.
TPR was founded by and is supported by our community. If you value our commitment to the highest standards of responsible journalism and are able to do so, please consider making your gift of support today.
Copyright 2021 Texas Public Radio. To see more, visit Texas Public Radio.
