Athol man convicted of attacking cops during failed Capitol coup

A jury in Washington, DC today convicted Vincent Gillespie of Athol of using a police shield to attack cops defending the Capitol and of trying to pull one cop into the mob, the US Attorney's office in Washington reports.

Gillespie, 61, faces sentencing on March 17 on his convictions for assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers; civil disorder; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.

According to the US Attorney's office:

The evidence at trial showed that on January 6, 2021, from approximately 4:11 p.m. to 4:26 p.m., Gillespie was among rioters in the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol who engaged in pushing, shoving, yelling, and fighting with law enforcement officers. He struggled his way through the crowd, eventually maneuvering through the rioters to the line of police officers defending the Lower West Terrace’s exterior door. At one point, he gained control of a police shield and used it to ram the police. He then used two hands to grab a Metropolitan Police Department sergeant by the arm, yanking him toward the mob. He then screamed “traitor” and “treason” at the police.

Fellow Athol residents, including a former neighbor and the manager of a hardware store he shopped at, quickly turned him in after recognizing him in one of the batches of photos the FBI released of Vanilla ISIS rampagers after the failed putsch.