South Carolina man charged in Capitol riot bragged he dressed as antifa and fought police

Elisha Fieldstadt
·3 min read

A South Carolina man bragged in a group text chat that he disguised himself as an anti-fascist activist, or antifa, during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and succeeded in assaulting officers and stealing police gear.

William Robert Norwood III relayed his plan in a text to four other people on Jan. 5, according to screenshots of the chat included in a criminal complaint and arrest warrant filed on Thursday.

“I’m dressing in all black,” Norwood wrote, according to the complaint. “I’ll look just like ANTIFA. I’ll get away with anything.”

William Robert Norwood III. (FBI)
William Robert Norwood III. (FBI)

A day after the riots, Norwood sent an update. “It worked... I got away with things that others were shot or arrested for.”

“The cop shot a female Trump supporter. Then allowed ‘ANTIFA Trump supporters’ to assault him. I was one of them. I was there. I took his s---," Norwood continued.

Attached to the text was a selfie of himself "wearing what appears to be a U.S. Capitol Police tactical vest underneath a zipped up camouflage jacket," the FBI wrote in the complaint.

“I got a nice helmet and body armor off a cop for God’s sake and I disarmed him. Tell me how that works," Norwood wrote to the group, according to the screenshots.

He claimed that once he changed out of antifa garb, he was targeted by officers.

“I fought 4 cops, they did nothing. When I put my red hat on, they pepper balled me,” Norwood wrote.

Immediately following the violence Jan. 6, baseless conspiracy theories circulated on social media and conservative media outlets that antifa was somehow behind the riots.

There is no evidence that anti-fascist activists were involved in the riots, which led to the deaths of five people, FBI officials have repeatedly said.

Someone identified as T.D., who the FBI say was Norwood's brother, reprimanded Norwood.

“You admitted to going and being something you’re accusing other people of being. And then got mad and blamed others for the same thing you did. What the actual f--- is wrong with you?” T.D. texted.

Norwood replied, “The one cop who deserved it, got it.” He added, “The cops who acted s----- got exactly what they deserved. The ones who were cool, got help.”

A family member of T.D., identified by the FBI as J.D., tipped off agents, saying that T.D. had told her Norwood did "'terrible things' inside the U.S. Capitol, including assaulting law enforcement officers," the criminal complaint said. T.D. then shared the messages with federal agents.

When agents interviewed Norwood, he said he and his wife traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the Trump rally. He admitted to entering the Capitol and the Capitol Rotunda after he was separated from his wife, according to the FBI.

He claimed "two U.S. Capitol Police Officers were waving people inside, and that one of the Capitol Police officers told him, 'I’m on your side,'" the FBI said.

He said he wanted to leave, but could not because of the large crowd. He said he helped officers from being assaulted, and claimed that someone else took a police vest from a pile of equipment and placed the vest on him, the FBI said. He admitted to taking a helmet from the pile and placing it on his head.

"Norwood also denied assaulting law enforcement officers, and claimed that any statements he made in text messages were meant to make Norwood sound tough," said the criminal complaint. "Norwood repeatedly claimed that he only attempted to help law enforcement, not hurt them."

Norwood provided the FBI with a photo of himself, wearing a camouflage jacket and standing near the Washington Monument on Jan. 6. A man who was wearing the same clothes and appears to be Norwood was captured in surveillance video in the rotunda, the FBI said.

Norwood faces charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, obstruction of justice and Congress, theft of government property and other charges. Efforts to reach him by phone were unsuccessful Tuesday.

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