January 6 ‘Under Helmet Sprayer’ Jailed

A January 6 rioter known to investigators as “Under Helmet Sprayer” has been sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.
Footage recorded during the 2021 Capitol riot showed Bryan Roger Bishop aiming an irritant spray under a police officer’s protective visor as Bishop and others struggled to get past the police lines outside the building.
Bishop, of Marathon, Florida, also sprayed another officer in the eyes, and that officer had to be removed from police lines.
On April 30, Bishop pleaded guilty to a single count of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers. Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., has now sentenced the 52-year-old to 45 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release and ordered him to pay $2,000 in restitution.
In the three years since January 6, 2021, more than 1,488 people have been charged in almost all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including almost 550 people charged with a felony count of assaulting or impeding law enforcement, the Justice Department said.
In an effort to prevent the official certification of the 2020 election results, which gave Joe Biden the presidency, supporters of then-President Donald Trump descended on the Capitol.
The former president has continued to claim, without evidence, that the election was rigged via widespread voter fraud, but he has denied stoking the violence that took place during the Capitol riot.
Members of Congress later spoke of their fear as protesters invaded offices and tackled police officers inside the building.
A Justice Department news release about Bishop’s sentencing said: “On Jan. 6, 2021, by approximately 2:00 p.m., a crowd of rioters had breached various barriers that had been erected on the west side of the U.S. Capitol building and were attempting to overwhelm police officers positioned there.
“At approximately 2:02 p.m., Bishop emerged from the crowd and aimed and sprayed a chemical irritant canister at the line of police officers.”
The statement continued: “Bishop sprayed a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer directly in the face with an orange-colored chemical irritant and then sprayed a second MPD officer by aiming the spray at an upward angle in order to spray under the officer’s face shield.
“After spraying the officers on the West Plaza, Bishop entered the U.S. Capitol building at approximately 2:39 p.m. Inside, Bishop walked throughout various rooms, including the Rotunda, Statuary Hall, and the Statuary Hall Connector. After approximately 17 minutes, Bishop exited the Capitol building at approximately 2:56 p.m.”
The FBI’s Miami, San Antonio and Washington offices investigated the case, the Justice Department said.
According to the indictment, Sedition Hunters, an independent website that tries to identify January 6 rioters, had labeled a man using orange spray “Under Helmet Sprayer” for the way he deliberately sprayed behind a police officer’s visor.
The indictment included a screenshot of the website’s photos of the man. Bishop was arrested in Florida on August 8, 2023.
A federal judge in Florida released him on bail on the condition that he surrender his passport and not keep any firearms in his house.