An AR-15 owner QAnon acolyte caught with armor-piercing bullets drove from Wisconsin to Washington, DC on March 3 and told US Capitol police officers that “maybe he was going to do something crazy and stupid tomorrow “- The day followers of the discredited conspiracy theory falsely believed that former President Donald Trump would regain the presidency, according to a criminal complaint revealed March 19 in federal court.
Ian Alan Olson, who made the 800-mile trip in a 2016 Subaru adorned with QAnon slogans, told a soldier on duty outside the Capitol that he was going to “test the National Guard tomorrow to see if they were loyal to the people or to the president “, who was” willing to die to fulfill this mission “and that his” actions would unite eight billion people, “says the complaint.
If he ended up getting shot by the National Guard, Olson said, he would know the Guard was loyal to President Joe Biden. If the National Guard did not shoot him, Olson claimed that then he would know that the Guard was loyal to the public. He explained that it would be “taken by the Spirit of Christ and would lead people to unity,” the complaint says, and that “things can only be solved with the barrel of a gun.”
Central to QAnon’s conspiracy theory is the false belief that the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles and child traffickers (allegedly largely made up of prominent Democratic politicians, so-called government employees). from the ‘Deep State’, journalists and Hollywood Elite) and that President Trump is secretly working with Q and others to end the clique, ”reads an affidavit attached to the complaint and signed by FBI Special Agent Justin Mosiman of the Milwaukee Field Office Joint Counter-Terrorism Task Force. “Many followers of QAnon (known as ‘Anons’) refer to themselves as ‘digital soldiers’ and believe that they are immersed in an epic battle between good and evil and darkness and light. After the November 3, 2020 election, many prominent QAnon supporters exhorted the ‘Anons’ to ‘trust the plan’, believing that President-elect Biden’s victory was illusory and part of a complicated plan of [an anonymous government official named] Q and others to reveal the crimes of the clique to the world, resulting in President Trump getting a second term. “
Dozens of people accused of participating in the Jan.6 riot on Capitol Hill were outspoken supporters of QAnon. The alleged insurgent known as the “QAnon Shaman”, for example, left a threatening note for Vice President Mike Pence in the Senate chamber. Another QAnon supporter wearing a T-shirt with the letter “Q” was seen physically threatening a police officer and was expected to be seen on video so that the QAnon movement would be duly credited for participating in the siege.
In Olson’s case, the Capitol Police determined he was a danger to himself and others, and he was admitted to a DC psychiatric hospital. There, Olson was diagnosed with a “brief psychotic disorder” and was discharged on March 5, the complaint says.
Ten days later, Olson allegedly drove to an Army Reserve base in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, in his car, which had Q-related phrases like “Trust my plan” and “WWG1WGA”, a QAnon tagline meaning “¿ Where do we go, we go all, ”he spray-painted the doors, hood, roof, rear window and bumpers.
Driving toward the base, Olson got out of the vehicle, yelled, “This is for America,” and fired an AR-15-style paintball pistol at two uniformed reservists who were about 50 feet apart, according to the document. After allegedly firing “two or three” rounds at the soldiers, Olson’s paintball gun apparently jammed. At that time, the reservists, one of whom describes himself as a law enforcement officer in civilian life, accosted Olson and held him up by the police.
A search of Olson’s car revealed a gas mask, throwing knives, a police scanner, two-way radios, a taser pistol and military-style ballistic vest plates, the complaint continues. Officers also found a three-page handwritten manifesto, which contained numerous mentions of Q and “my plan,” according to an arrest motion filed by prosecutors.
Olson was booked into the Waukesha County Jail for three misdemeanors: terrorist threats; attempted assault; and disorderly conduct. During the prosecution, Olson said he had recently returned from Washington, DC, where he did not send the “message” he hoped to convey. According to the complaint, he then said he planned to cause “massive casualties” when he got out, and muttered under his breath: “People will remember my name.”
After refusing to speak to a mental health worker, Olson was released from custody on March 16. His wife consented to a search at their home, where police found a very real AR-15 rifle with a telescopic sight, suppressor and seven magazines. loaded with armor-piercing ammunition. Olson’s family told police there were several pistols “still in circulation” and that they would turn them over to law enforcement.
On March 19, the FBI arrested Olson on two federal charges related to the incident at the Army Reserve base: assault on the United States military because of service; and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officials or employees, both minor offenses.
He does not yet have an attorney on file and could not be reached for comment.