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July 26 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania man who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the Capitol building and boasted about it online has been sentenced to more than a year in prison on charges of assaulting police during the attack. Brian Gundersen, 28, of State College, Pa., was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months' imprisonment and 36 months' supervised release and was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution to the Architect of the Capitol.
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The sentence was handed down after he was found guilty in November to felony charges of obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers.
The state had asked the court to imprison Gundersen for 46 months as he was "an eager and repeated participant in the Capitol breach," Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Juman wrote in the sentencing memorandum.
Court documents show that Gundersen had travelled from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., with intent to take control of the government on Jan. 6, had repeatedly entered the Capitol during the siege, mocked destruction of the facility and attacked a police officer.
The day after the attack, he then admitted online that they "stormed" the Capitol and "tried to take over the government," but "failed," the documents show.
Prosecutors said Gundersen was one of the first rioters to enter the Capitol through the Parliamentarian Door, which is located on the West, Senate side of the building.
Inside the Parliamentarian's Office, which provides the House with nonpartisan guidance on rules and procedures, Gundersen watched as other rioters ransacked the room and destroyed furniture before taking up a note pad and writing "sowwy for damage," which he left behind as he was forced out by law enforcement.
He then re-entered the Capitol via a broken window before being forced out by police and he moved to the Northwest Terrace near the Senate Wing Door where he joined others in confronting officers attempting to clear the area.
During this confrontation, Gundersen rushed a Metropolitan D.C. Police officer identified in court documents only as C.B., hitting him in the arm before being pushed back by the riot shield of another officer.
"After being pushed away, Gundersen beat his chest with his fists, and retreated into the crowd of rioters," the statement of facts of the event said.
In the days following the attack, Gundersen repeatedly discussed it online, calling himself and other rioters "heroes" and "patriots" who "had to resort to violence" because "they don't listen to us," according to court documents.
The criminal complaint states that Gundersen was identified via the Byram Hills High School letter jacket he was wearing when he sieged the building.
Gundersen was arrested Jan. 25.
Since the attack, nearly 1,100 people have been arrested, including more than 350 who, like Gundersen, have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
