Man in ‘Camp Auschwitz’ sweatshirt arrested during Capitol riots, says law enforcement officer

Man in ‘Camp Auschwitz’ sweatshirt arrested during Capitol riots, says law enforcement officer

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CNN first reported that the man in the sweatshirt was identified as Robert Keith Packer of Virginia. A law enforcement official told CNN that Packer was picked up in Newport News, Virginia.
The riots that stormed the American Capitol on Wednesday, dressed in a sweater with the phrase "Camp Auschwitz", identified as Robert Keith Packer of Virginia, was arrested in Virginia on Wednesday morning, according to a law enforcement official.

An image of Packer in the Capitol, whose sweatshirt bears the name of the Nazi concentration camp where about 1.1 million people died during World War II, has sparked shock and disbelief on social media. At the bottom of his shirt is ‘Work brings freedom’, which is the rough translation of the phrase ‘Arbeit macht frei’ which was on the gates of the concentration camp.

Packer has a criminal history, including three convictions for driving under the influence and a conviction for falsifying public records, according to court reports in Virginia. He was charged in 2016 with alleged misconduct. The case was later dismissed.

Packer was among the crowd of supporters of President Donald Trump who illegally broke into the U.S. Capitol building on January 6 as Congress counted the votes of the Electoral College and ratified the election of President-elect Joe Biden.

The rioters wrongly convinced that the election of Trump was stolen. They fought with police officers and attacked members of the media, smashed windows, vandalized and looted offices and stole federal property.

Five people – including the Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick – have been killed and many more injured as a result of the uprising. One woman was shot dead by Capitol police as the crowd stormed the building and had three other medical emergencies that were fatal.
Police in Washington, DC, made 61 arrests that day, while many more have been arrested in the days since then, with at least 20 on federal charges.
The Justice Department said on Tuesday it had indicted more than 70 cases and opened more than 170 cases – “with the numbers expected to grow to hundreds” – in its federal investigation.

This story has been updated with additional background information.

CNN’s Curt Devine, Scott Bronstein, Drew Griffin, Paul Murphy and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.

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