Tip leads to Owensboro felon's arrest for spraying officers with mace during U.S. Capitol riot

An Owensboro convicted felon was arrested Thursday and accused of spraying mace at police officers during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, according to federal court records.

The FBI received a tip on Jan. 11 from a friend of Peter Schwartz, 47, who was supposed to be in an Owensboro rehabilitation center on Jan. 6, according to court records. But Schwartz was at the riot at the U.S. Capitol instead, according to the FBI’s anonymous source.

The anonymous complainant, identified in court records as “W-1,” alerted the FBI on Jan. 11, but FBI officials didn’t contact him about his tip until Jan. 24, according to court records. Prior to contacting W-1, the FBI shared a poster with photos of potential suspects. W-1 reviewed the photos and confirmed that one of the potential suspects was Schwartz, according to court records.

The man who was identified as Schwartz was seen on video spraying police officers with mace, according to an affidavit written by the FBI. The canister of mace appeared to be MK-9 pepper spray, a product carried by police officers who responded to the riot on Jan. 6, but the agent who wrote the affidavit couldn’t verify that the spray was that product.

W-1 told the FBI that they were friends with Schwartz and Schwartz owed them money, according to court records. W-1 also provided investigators with a link to Schwartz’s Facebook page. On the page, FBI agents found posts related to the Capitol riot.

Schwartz has been arrested and convicted on multiple felony charges in Daviess County. In 2016, he was convicted on a methamphetamine possession charge, according to court records. In 2019, he was convicted of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and terroristic threatening, also in Daviess County, according to the Kentucky Department of Corrections. And in March 2019, Schwartz was arrested on a DUI charge by the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office.

He was released from prison last year due to COVID-19 concerns in prisons.

“All the violence from the left was terrorism,” Schwartz allegedly wrote in a Jan. 7 Facebook post. “What happened yesterday was the opening of a war. I was there and whether people will acknowledge it or not we are now at war. It would be wise to be ready!”

FBI agents also interviewed on Jan. 24 a police lieutenant in Owensboro who had encountered Schwartz in April 2020, according to the affidavit filed against Schwartz in federal court. The lieutenant was shown a photo of Schwartz and confirmed his identity.

FBI agents also reviewed body-worn camera footage from officers who responded to the Capitol riot. They saw a man who they believed was Schwartz reaching over the crowd of rioters to spray mace at police officers, according to court records.

An agent stated in the affidavit that Schwartz’s arm extends “out from the crowd of toward the group of officers and sprays an orange substance from a black canister directly at the group of officers. The orange substance lands near the face of an unidentified officer, causing him to turn his face away and step backwards.”

When the FBI interviewed officers to see if they could identify who sprayed mace at them, one of the officers said Schwartz “looked familiar but he could not recall any further information because he had been maced so many times that day,” Emily Eckert, a special agent, wrote in the affidavit.

Schwartz was also seen on video carrying a wooden baton in the midst of a large crowd of rioters, according to the affidavit.

Schwartz faces five federal charges: forcibly assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees; knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority (two counts); obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Schwartz was in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, when he was arrested, according to federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania. His initial federal court appearance was Thursday evening in the Western District of Pennsylvania, according to court records.

Federal prosecutors filed a motion to keep Schwartz from being released from custody on the grounds that Schwartz is a danger to others and a flight risk, according to court records.

(Headline photo and two photos below courtesy of the FBI)