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   From: bondrock@att.net   
      
   5 people died in the Capitol insurrection. Experts say it could have been   
   so much worse.   
      
      
   The mob that overtook the US Capitol on January 6 was seconds away from   
   seeing security whisk away then-Vice President Mike Pence, the Washington   
   Post reported.   
      
   Many of the pro-Trump rioters were armed. Their goal that day, laid out in   
   messages prosecutors have cited charging them with crimes, was to swarm   
   the halls of government and keep Congress from certifying President Joe   
   Biden's victory.   
      
   At least two rioters were pictured with hands full of zip-tie like   
   restraints. Others strung a noose outside.   
      
   They shouted Pence's name and rifled through House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's   
   office.   
      
   After then-President Donald Trump riled them up at the "Stop the Steal"   
   rally, hundreds forced their way into the Capitol, donning QAnon attire   
   and waving a Confederate flag.   
      
   Some rioters got within yards of an unsecured Senate chamber and were just   
   seconds away from running into Pence when Capitol Police Officer Eugene   
   Goodman veered them in another direction.   
      
   Others encountered a barricaded House chamber door as authorities   
   frantically tried to secure the space.   
   capitol seige   
   U.S. Capitol Police with guns drawn watch as protesters try to break into   
   the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in   
   Washington. J. Scott Applewhite   
      
   Lawmakers were eventually whisked away to secure rooms with their staff,   
   but rioters continued to push through, and some made it to the Senate   
   chamber — where they scaled down walls and sat at the dais where Pence had   
   presided mere minutes before.   
      
   The day was bloody: Rioter Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by a police   
   officer as she tried to climb through a broken window, and multiple videos   
   showed insurrectionists attacking overwhelmed police officers, including   
   one, who was surrounded outside a Capitol entrance and beaten with   
   flagpoles.   
      
   In total five people died in the Capitol insurrection, including one   
   Capitol Police officer.   
      
   But experts told Insider that the insurrection could have been much   
   deadlier if lawmakers hadn't been taken to safety.   
      
   "If insurrectionists had been able to get their hands on a member of   
   Congress, particularly a member of Congress that has been vilified by   
   right-wing media… I think you could most definitely have had bloodshed   
   because people were so riled up and fueled with conspiracy theories and   
   hatred," Devin Burghart, the executive director of the Institute for   
   Research and Education on Human Rights, a national watchdog group, told   
   Insider.   
      
   Burghart said if more rioters made it inside the Capitol, or if Trump had   
   walked with rioters to the building as he said he would, it would have   
   been a "much more volatile situation."   
      
   "You could have literally had open air executions in Washington on January   
   6," he said. "It's clear from the rhetoric they were using inside the   
   halls, their intentions, given things like a noose hanging out in front or   
   the fact that they brought zip ties and weapons into the halls, it could   
   have been disastrous."   
   Once expert says rioters never actually expected to gain access to the   
   Capitol and were 'caught off guard and without a specific strategy'   
      
   At least 179 pro-Trump rioters have been charged in the Capitol   
   insurrection so far.   
      
   Several of those arrested were found carrying weapons, including one man   
   who was found with an arsenal of bombs and guns.   
      
   While the FBI says there's no "direct evidence" of a plot to kill at the   
   Capitol, rioters were heard saying they wanted to execute Pence.   
      
   Javed Ali, a former senior director for counterterrorism and the National   
   Security Council, questioned why the riot didn't turn more violent.   
      
   "Was it because they couldn't find members of Congress and the vice   
   president? Was it because law enforcement thankfully prevented them from   
   doing it? Was it because they had a change of heart at some point in the   
   middle of their time in the building? I just don't think we know yet," Ali   
   said.   
      
   "But it absolutely had the potential to be more violent and I'm surprised   
   it wasn't, not only from that end of the spectrum, but from the law   
   enforcement side, too."   
   Capitol riot   
   Protesters broke into Capitol Building on January 06, 2021. (Photo by Win   
   McNamee/Getty Images)   
      
   Capitol Police have come under fire for their response to the   
   insurrection. They were largely overwhelmed by rioters, and video showed   
   some officers taking selfies with the insurrectionists and letting them   
   through gates.   
      
   Tamara Herold, a crime scientist and director of the Crowd Management   
   Research Council, told Insider that some rioters likely never believed   
   they'd actually breach the capitol.   
      
   "I think most rioters were caught off-guard and without a specific   
   strategy, which likely prevented greater harm from occurring," she said,   
   adding that police actions may have saved lives: "Attempting to hold and   
   redirect the crowd as long as possible to allow evacuation and the arrival   
   of additional police personnel, without resorting to deadly violence (with   
   one exception), likely prevented provoking rioters into using greater   
   levels of deadly force."   
   Several military members and law enforcement officers were among rioters   
   charged in the insurrection   
      
   Several former military members and retired or off-duty law-enforcement   
   officers — people who are often taught how to use force for their careers   
   — are among rioters who have been charged.   
      
   NPR reported that nearly one in five rioters charged were active duty or   
   retired military veterans, and that police officers from across the nation   
   participated in the insurrection.   
   Protesters enter the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC.   
   Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's   
   306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. Pro-Trump   
   protesters have entered the U.S. Capitol building after mass   
   demonstrations in the nation's capital.   
   Protesters enter the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC.   
   Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's   
   306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. Pro-Trump   
   protesters have entered the U.S. Capitol building after mass   
   demonstrations in the nation's capital. Win McNamee/Getty Images   
      
   Three members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right extremist group that   
   recruits former military and police, have been charged with conspiracy in   
   the insurrection, and a charging document showed men planning to storm the   
   Capitol days in advance.   
      
   Burghart told Insider that he wasn't surprised to see former military   
   members and off-duty police officers being arrested and put on leave in   
   connection the insurrection.   
      
      
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