Houston Chronicle by Gabrielle Banks and Benjamin Wermund 5/27/2021
A Houston cop, a baker and a florist: Meet the Texans charged in the Capitol riot
Elizabeth Rose Williams, a Hill Country lifestyle coach specializing in essential oils and conscious food sourcing, believed she was “destined to do great things, and be an influencer to leaders.” FBI agents say she also appeared on Facebook posts and grainy surveillance video amid the Jan. 6 Capitol siege, wandering through the Crypt and Senate gallery with her North Carolina boyfriend, a QAnon devotee who ran a far-right boot camp.
Williams, 31, of Kerrville, is among 44 Texans charged thus far in the Jan. 6 riots with breaking past barricades, battling police and surging through the iconic neoclassical building as Congress worked to seal Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Texas is home to the greatest number of people accused in the frenetic melee, based on Justice Department filings and data from the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. The Texas defendants include military veterans, real estate agents, ex cons, a mortgage broker, a cop, a florist and an actor with a bit part on “Friday Night Lights.”
They traveled with friends and cousins. They were fathers and sons, lovers and loners. A handful had ties to far-right groups, including the Proud Boys and Three Percenters, officials said. But the majority were just avid supporters of former President Donald Trump, rioting over an election they thought was being stolen from its rightful victor.
Nearly five months after the siege at the so-called “Temple of Democracy,” more than three new arrests occur daily, on average. That number includes a 38-year-old financial adviser from Katy who was arrested by the FBI Tuesday on charges he faced off against an officer in riot gear inside the Capitol. Justice officials estimate that more than 800 people entered the Capitol building, and say they are undertaking one of the largest criminal probes in U.S. history
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