Military veteran who stormed Capitol with loaded pistol is sentenced to 7 years in prison

Military vet Christopher Alberts sentenced to 7 yrs in prison for storming U.S. Capitol on Jan 6, 2021. He was armed with a 9-mm pistol, body armour, gas mask, and other tactical gear. He used a wooden pallet to ram police officers and threw a bottle at them. He is one of the longest-sentenced rioters.

A military veteran who stormed the U.S. Capitol with a loaded pistol, metal-plated body armour and a gas mask was sentenced on July 19 to seven years in prison, one of the longest among hundreds of Jan. 6 riot cases.

Christopher Michael Alberts, 35, of Pylesville, Maryland, isn’t accused of brandishing his concealed gun during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. But he used a wooden pallet as a makeshift battering ram against police officers who were guarding a stairwell outside the Capitol, according to federal prosecutors.

Alberts told U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper that he was trying to protect others outside the Capitol as police deployed tear gas and non-lethal munitions to hold back the mob.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody,” he said. “I just wanted it all to stop.”

Judge Cooper told Alberts that he was one of the leaders of the mob that day.

“You were not simply a bystander,” the Judge said.

Alberts, a former Virginia National Guard member, spent six hours on Capitol grounds on the day of the riot. He was armed with a 9-millimetre pistol — loaded with hollow point and high-pressure rounds — and brought an extra magazine of ammunition.