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WASHINGTON -- Apparently West Virginia officials may have to wait to fully adjudicate the case against a Pennsylvania man, who had been arrested in the stabbing of a downtown Chester, W.Va., business owner.
Federal officials picked up Joshua Lee Atwood, 31, of Burgettstown, last month on charges stemming from his alleged participation in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, after identifying him from video footage.
Chester Police Chief Chuck Stanley had shared the news with council during its monthly meeting Monday that their charges may no longer have precedence. Hancock County's grand jury had just indicted him on Chester crime the week before.
On April 17, the U.S. Department of Justice had announced Atwood's arrest on felony offenses of civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon; entering, remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and an act of physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
He also faces misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
In DOJ press release, court documents show that "a man, later identified as Atwood, was seen in police body-worn camera and open-source video footage attacking law enforcement officers defending the Lower West Terrace Tunnel between approximately 4:51 p.m. and 5:03 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. The Tunnel was the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement that day."
After first grabbing a bottle-like object from the ground and throwing it an officer, striking him, he is seen throwing a long silver pole and later another bottle-like object at officers in the Tunnel.
The court documents continue that only moments later, "Atwood is seen in video footage allegedly using a long wooden pole to strike multiple officers in a stabbing motion with a significant amount of force. Atwood then momentarily pulled the pole back before striking another police on the top of the officer's helmet by the face plate. Atwood then pulled the pole back and threw it in the direction of police officers, hitting their shields and ricocheting off the south wall," according to the press release.
Several years later, Chester, W.Va., police would respond to the Crazy Donkey, where Atwood is accused of allegedly stabbing Jose Mocias-Onate, who owned the Mexican restaurant, over being a pay shortage in front of witnesses. After fleeing the scene, which is blocks from the police station, he later was arrested almost a month late in Franklin Springs, Pa., which is eight miles north of his home.
Atwood had worked as a handyman for Mocias-Onate.
Chester police had charged him with armed robbery and malicious assault in conjunction with that crime, and he ultimately was arrested by the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force, Washington County (Pa.) Sheriff's Office and Hanover Township (Pa.) Police Department.