John Banuelos, a 40-year-old individual from Utah, was arrested on October 17, 2025, in Cicero, Illinois, on charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault, as reported by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. A warrant for his arrest had been issued in Salt Lake County on October 1, 2025. Banuelos was previously identified in a February 2022 NBC News report as the individual who discharged a firearm during the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Online investigators, referred to as "sedition hunters," had identified Banuelos and provided his name to the FBI in February 2021. Following the Capitol incident, Banuelos was involved in a fatal stabbing of Christopher Thomas Senn in Salt Lake City on July 4, 2021, but he was not charged, claiming self-defense. After his arrest for the stabbing, Banuelos reportedly informed law enforcement, "I was in the D.C. riots. You can look me up, OK?" and acknowledged his presence in a video where he brandished a firearm.

Senn’s foster mother expressed disappointment in the justice system, noting that the FBI did not act on the tip regarding Banuelos’ actions at the Capitol prior to her son’s death, stating, "He should have been arrested. … He’s going to do this to somebody else."

In footage from the January 6 riot, Banuelos is seen with a gun in a crowd and firing it into the air. Despite being identified by citizen investigators, Banuelos was not arrested by the FBI for several years. Following the Capitol riot, federal authorities received over 200,000 tips about individuals involved, raising concerns that the volume of information may have hindered timely investigations.

Banuelos was eventually arrested in March 2024 and was ordered to be detained pretrial after prosecutors described his actions as "mind-numbingly dangerous." In May 2024, he predicted in court that former President Donald Trump would be re-elected and would pardon those involved in the January 6 incident. Following Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, the Justice Department moved to dismiss the case against Banuelos, citing the President's pardon as a reason.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan noted that the government had not identified any legal or factual defects in the case, emphasizing that the pardon could not erase the violence and chaos caused by the mob during the Capitol attack. She remarked on the importance of maintaining a historical record of the judicial proceedings, which should stand as a testament to the rule of law, regardless of political influences.