The white marble cover at Niche 2, Column 4, Columbarium Court 7-RR in Arlington National Cemetery reads:
Brian David Sicknick
SSGT USAF
ADVERTISEMENT
1978-2021
Sicknick had served six years in the U.S. Air Force, leaving in 2003 to become an officer in the U.S. Capitol Police. He collapsed and died after the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The District of Columbia medical examiner’s office determined he died from a stroke, saying “all that transpired played a role in his condition.”
Part of what transpired was being sprayed with a chemical agent directly in the face from a few feet away by a man wearing a knit Trump hat and Trump gloves.
“When I saw him get attacked, I remember his face, ghostly pale, and in pain. I remember thinking that I had never seen anyone go pale when they got sprayed with chemical spray, and I knew he must need help,” fellow Capital Police Officer Caroline Edwards said in a victim’s impact statement. “I didn’t get a chance to help, though, because seconds later I was sprayed.”
She went on: “On January 7th, 2021, a sergeant called me to tell me that Officer Sicknick would not make it. My day had already been confusing enough. Injured with a traumatic brain injury, I slept fitfully, not sure of what was real life and what was a dream. I had hoped this call was a nightmare. All I could remember saying to him over the phone was, ‘No.’ That’s all I could say, ‘No,’ followed by: ‘I’m sorry. I am so sorry.’”
“What kicked off was months of survivor’s guilt and asking. ’God, why wasn’t it me?’ It didn’t matter what anyone else said to me. I felt like the absolute worst kind of officer; someone who didn’t help their friend, couldn’t help their friend. Every time I looked in the mirror, I was reminded of this. My eyes were red and scabbed for over a month afterwards. It was like the 6th was mocking me, reminding me at every turn how I couldn’t help my fellow officer that day.”
Sicknick was cremated and a police honor guard solemnly carried a black urn containing his remains up the Capitol steps. He became only the fifth person to lay in honor in the Rotunda, a distinction that is the equivalent of lying in state for government and military officials. The other four are: fellow Capitol Police officers, Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, killed by a crazed gunman in 1998; Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks in 2005; and evangelist Rev. Billy Graham in 2018.
The urn was then deposited with full honors in the columbarium at Arlington.
In March of 2021 the FBI arrested 32-year-old Julian Khater of Pennsylvania and 39-year-old George Tanios of West Virginia in connection with the attack on Sicknick and Edwards. The evidence against them included video in which Kharen says to Tanios: “Give me that bear shit,” and then takes the chemical agent from his backpack. Khater then sprays both officers at close range.
Tanios pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and trespassing misdemeanors. He was sentenced to time served, having already been remanded for six months.
Khater pleaded guilty to felony assault on police officers and U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan sentenced him to 80 months on Jan. 27, 2023. Hogan had clearly been moved by Edwards’ description of the attack on Sicknick and the immediate aftermath.
“Officer Edwards said he just turned pale white,” the judge said to Khater. “You just walked up, within three or four feet of her, and sprayed her directly in her face; I mean, held it right there into her face to hurt her.
And she wanted to help [Sicknick] and couldn’t because she was blinded. She couldn’t see where to move or where to go.”
The judge added, “You can see how distraught and destroyed she is two years later, it’s a long-term effect.”
Others who provided impact statements included Gladys Sicknick.
“I am Brian Sicknick’s mom,” she told the judge.. “Today I did not get dressed up because I dressed up in Brian’s shirt … And I just thought it was something I had to do.”
She continued, addressing Khater directly, “Seven hundred and fifty-one days, that’s how much time has passed since Jan. 6, 2021. And each and every day, I and my family are reminded of what you did to my son Brian. There is hardly an hour’s respite. With every news report, newspaper, on the internet—we are pummeled by the horrific images of that day. But we also see the face of my son and those of courageous men and women who stood their ground to protect our democracy from a vicious mob.”
She went on, “And I see you, Mr. Khater. You are a center stage in our recurring nightmare. Just when raw nerves have begun to heal, we are carried back to the scene of your crime. You, among all the other crazies, you are the reason Brian is dead, Mr. Khater. You alone, today, sir. But on Jan. 6 you were on the front lines of a violent mob. And for what? While you were assaulting police officers whose duty is to keep the peace and secure our Capitol, you can’t possibly have thought you were doing the right thing.”
“The rioters who breached the Capitol that day, whether or not they have been charged with crimes, all of you are culpable in Brian’s death. All of you bear responsibility for the injuries sustained by Brian’s fellow officers: The broken bones, head trauma, and the continuing mental anguish they suffer and will endure for the rest of their lives. Imagine the emotional pain that would cause someone to take his own life. Four officers committed suicide. You and your movement caused their deaths.
She was not done.
“‘Foot soldiers, you call yourselves. You, with your flags used as spikes. My son was a soldier. Soldiers don’t erect gallows and call for the Vice President to be hanged. Soldiers don’t attack the seat of their own government by brandishing pipes and clubs and bats … They don’t beat and blind policemen with chemicals like you did to Brian.”
“You attacked my son like he was an animal. You are the animal, Mr. Khater. In defense of their actions, some of the mob have relied upon the fact that the former president invited them to Washington, that he whipped them into a frenzy and sent them marching to do his bidding to stop the peaceful transfer of power, to overturn our election. That man will get his due, his day in court; that’s my hope. But you should have known better. In this great country we go to the voting booth to make a difference. We don’t start an armed rebellion, no matter if the President encouraged you to fight like hell to take your country back. To this day he rants about your patriotism and how unfair you have been treated. To this day he lies about the election. How does it feel to be headed to jail because of a bald-face lie? You are no martyr. You are a felon.”
“I don’t know what kind of upbringing you had, what might have happened in your childhood that contributed to your deluded sense of right and wrong. If I were your mom, I would be embarrassed to have a son like you. I couldn’t bear to look at you ever again, which is how I feel right now. Let this be the last time, Mr. Khater. Lawlessness, misplaced loyalty to a deranged autocratic ideal, and hate killed my son. And I hope you are haunted by your crimes behind bars. Whatever jail time you receive is not enough in my eyes.”
Early Monday evening, Khater was inmate number 34510-509 at Federal Correctional Institution Danbury in Connecticut, not due for release until Nov. 18, 2026. But Donald Trump had just arrived at the Oval Office after being restored to power.
The newly inaugurated president had begun his day by delivering his inaugural address in the Rotunda, which his supporters had stormed four years before and where Sicknick had afterwards lain in honor.
Trump then went down to Emancipation Hall to address the overflow crowd and repeated the falsehood about the 2020 election being “rigged,” the same lie that had led to Sicknick, Edwards and at least 138 other officers being injured.
From there, Trump went to an indoor parade at the Capital One Arena. He said he would be pardoning all those convicted in connection with the storming of the Capitol. He called them “the Jan. 6 hostages” even as he stood with the families of actual Israeli hostages.
He then headed for the Oval Office and sat down at the Resolute Desk to sign a stack of executive orders in blue folders. A news camera recorded an aide setting the first before him.
“First you have a list of pardons and commutations for events that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021,” the aide said.
“OK, and how many people is this?” Trump asked.
“I think this order will apply to approximately 1500 people, sir,” the aide replied.
“So, this is Jan. 6,” Trump said. “These are the hostages. Approximately 1500 for a pardon.”
‘Yes,” the aide said.
“Full pardon,” Trump said.
He added that there were about six commutations that would require further examination.
“The commutations will either stay that way or, it’ll go to a full pardon,” he said.
Trump proceeded to affix his signature with the customary black Sharpie.
“So this is a big one,” he said.
“The order does require the Bureau of Prisons to act immediately upon receipt of the pardon and commutation orders,” the aide said.
“Why don’t we get that down, so they can get them going right now,” Trump told him.
“Yes, sir, absolutely,” the aide said.
The Bureau of Prisons says that Khater was released at approximately 11:55 pm. That was five minutes before the end of Trump’s Day One.
But Trump never had the day in court that Sicknick’s mom had hoped for.
At least Edwards is said to still be on the job and promoted to sergeant. She can look in the mirror and see someone who had said what needed saying for her fallen comrade. She stands in honor at the Capitol.
The Daily Beast Podcast episodes are released every Thursday. Like and download on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app. And click here for email updates as each new episode drops.
