Seventy-one year old Lonnie Coffman pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of weapons related charges for his role in the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol, to which he brought eleven Molotov cocktails and cache of weapons and ammunition, AL.com reports.
While conservative commentators and politicians have characterized the events on January 6th as largely peaceful by an unarmed group of patriotic Americans, facts from the scene undermine that narrative. More than a dozen people have been charged with gun-related crimes, including carrying guns into the Capitol.
Coffman, who spent part of the hearing complaining about being held without bond, the conditions of the jail and the quality of prison food, claimed that he didn’t remember the guns and bombs were in his truck when he drove from Alabama to Washington for the attack. “Yes, Your Honor, I didn’t plan any action with those things…. they had been in my truck for some time… I didn’t plan on blowing nothing up,” he told the court.
Police seized a horde of weapons from his pickup after spotting a loaded handgun in the vehicle: a loaded 9 mm handgun, a loaded rifle, several large-capacity ammunition-feeding devices loaded with more than 10 rounds of rifle ammunition, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a crossbow with bolts, several machetes, camouflage smoke devices, a stun gun, and the 11 mason jars filled with flammable liquid,
Coffman pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered firearm and carrying a pistol without a license. He faces up to 46 months in prison. He’ll be sentenced April 1, 2022.