"Things have been escalating at Trump protests but this was unexpected," 75th Ranger Regiment veteran John Koenig told Connecting Vets. "I figured there would be some violence but I didn't think there was going to be something happening at a government building."
Koenig served as an infantryman in 3rd Ranger Battalion including six combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. Today, he runs a company called Destination VR. Using a Samsung 360 Round VR camera he wades into the frontlines of protestors be they the Proud Boys or Antifa. In 2019, he did the same during massive protests taking place in Hong Kong for three weeks.
Yesterday, he filmed President Donald Trump's speech then went home only to see chaos erupt at the Capitol Building. He grabbed his camera gear and headed back out.
"When I got there essentially it seemed like they had cleared the critical portions of the building, I was on the west side of the building and it seemed like they had a choke point going and they were pushing people out it was basically a shoving match," Koenig told Connecting Vets.
Wading into the fray, Koenig said of the pro-Trump protestors and rioters that, "they are very nice if they think you are on your side. But they could be really aggressive." As he made his way through smashed doors and into the building, he said a lot of them were just standing around taking selfies with their phones.
"There was one cop shooting pepper balls over people's heads. A lot of people looked like they had been pepper-sprayed," Koenig said. "It took a lot of people out, they left the building, and new people came in. They pushed everyone out. There was kind of this ongoing standoff at the doors that had already been broken between cops and extremely angry Trump protesters talking smack to them."
Koenig said he is releasing footage he shot of the Hong Kong protests and is already publishing some of the 360-degree footage of yesterday's riot at the Capitol building. While he said some friends and Ranger buddies think he is nuts for going into the middle of protests, he says this is simply what he does now and hopes to further hone his skills with 360 camera technology.
Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR.
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