Why Have FBI Arrests Slowed Down for Jan. 6 Suspects?
When Salt Lake City police questioned John Banuelos in the fatal stabbing of a teenager on July 4, 2021, he confessed to the killing, claiming self-defense. Then he asked detectives an unusual question.
“Man, should I just tell the FBI to come get me or what?” Banuelos asked, according to an interview transcript first reported by Utah’s KSL.
The FBI was indeed looking for Banuelos. Five months earlier, it had uploaded pictures of him to its “most wanted” page of suspected participants in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Banuelos had been filmed flashing a gun at reporters on Capitol grounds, in apparent violation of a firearms ban. Soon after the FBI uploaded Banuelos’s picture, internet sleuths identified him and sent his name to the agency. And in his interview with Salt Lake City Police, Banuelos appeared to confirm those sleuths’ conclusion, suggesting police “look me up.”