(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Self-described federal provocateur John Emanuel Banuelos, who fired two shots into the air during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill uprising, has been arrested again on charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault in Utah.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois said it arrested Banuelos Oct. 17 on a fugitive warrant, which was issued in Salt Lake City on Oct. 1.
“He was wanted for aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault in Utah … On Oct. 17, the Cook County Sheriff’s Fugitive Apprehension Unit, working with the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, set up surveillance near 29th Street and Cicero Avenue in Cicero after learning that Banuelos may be in the area,” the Cook County Sheriff’s Office said on Twitter/X on Friday.
🚨 FUGITIVE FOUND🚨 A man who was once accused of firing a gun during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol was taken into custody last month after he was wanted for aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault in Utah. The Salt Lake County, Utah, warrant was issued… pic.twitter.com/7ifoGJd0qn
— Cook County Sheriff's Office (@CookSheriffIL) November 7, 2025
“Officers spotted a man fitting the 40-year-old’s description entering a fast-food restaurant in the 2900 block of South Cicero, then observed him leaving the restaurant and getting into the back seat of a vehicle that had pulled into the parking lot. Officers stopped the vehicle, positively identified the passenger as Banuelos, and took him into custody.”
Banuelos, who on Twitter/X claimed to be a “fed,” was identified immediately after Jan. 6, 2021—featured on a Vice documentary flashing a handgun. The FBI had Banuelos on its radar by Feb. 4, 2021, according to charging documents.
However, Banuelos wasn’t arrested until March 2024, a month after J6er Derrick Evans released footage of him firing the gun. At the time, Evans said it’s highly suspicious that the FBI didn’t arrest Banuelos until after his footage was made public.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO!
This footage will DESTROY the Fake News's phony "insurrection" Narrative aimed squarely at Donald Trump!
See the whole video at https://t.co/QfyXk3jPlN pic.twitter.com/VZ6ZP4KldZ
— X America News (@XAmericaNews) February 8, 2024
“Government had video of him shooting a gun on J6 for over three years, but they didn’t arrest him until I broke the story and it got national coverage. Most likely another Ray Epps situation,” Evans said last March—the same month that Banuelos identified himself as “fed” on his Twitter account.
After the Jan. 6 protest, Banuelos was again in the spotlight about a year later in February 2022, when news broke that he had been arrested in relation to a fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old in a Utah park in July 2021.
When he was arrested, he reportedly told police about his activities on Jan. 6.
“Man, should I just tell the FBI to come get me or what?” Banuelos, 39, asked detectives, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by KSL.com through a public records request.
“Do you have a warrant?” one detective asked.
“Probably,” he said. “I was in the D.C. riots.”
“On Jan. 6?” the other detective asked. “Did you go inside the Capitol?”
“Yeah, I went inside and I’m the one with the video with the gun right here,” Banuelos said.
Banuelos had his J6-related charges dropped against him after Trump took office in January.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
