Thread by @capitolhunters

#SeditionHunters - Time's up for #RayBanTerrorist! a long-awaited Proud Boys arrest, one of the first tracked, now up on PACER, information to follow. He walked in with the Proud Boys, fought on the Plaza and in the tunnel, part of the crowd surrounding Officer Fanone. 1/

Former Air Force serviceman AJ Fischer got his tag as #RayBanTerrorist for his cool shades. But the militia movement is complicated - between the Air Force and his time in extremism, the great @rocketman2001
found he spent some time as a male model. 2/

Correction: AJ Fischer aka #RayBanTerrorist's modeling career came first, then the Air Force, then militia. Here he is in 2018 with pals from the 14th Airlift Squadron, Joint Base Charleston, S.C. (He's on the right.) The pathways to extremism are complicated. 3/

By 2020, Fischer aka #RayBanTerrorist is clearly in with the Proud Boys. Here he is at the pre-Jan 6 rehearsal rally, Dec. 12 2020, quite close to Biggs and Nordean, leaders who would play a major role on January 6. Pics from @CassanderGrant 4/

On January 6, Fischer marched with the Proud Boys in the morning, went up the Pennsylvania Walkway with the first wave of attackers, and was up against the police line in the W. Plaza in those first terrifying minutes. He's on the right here. 5/

When the Plaza fight stalled, most Proud Boys retreated back to regroup, along with the Jericho March group who had pulled their giant cross up to the police line. Here's Fischer (#RayBanTerrorist) tending to the wounds of #BaldJerichoMarchGuy. 6/

#RayBanTerrorist was one of the first into the tunnel and is part of the scrum around Officer Fanone as he was dragged. He tumbled out of the tunnel just behind Fanone - here he is in the famous Lev Radin / Pacific Press photo. Annotation by @seditiontrack. 7/

#RayBanTerrorist (Fischer) was clearly associated with fellow Proud Boy #GogglesMan (Johnson) at the tunnel, so it's not surprising they were both arrested in the same week. Here they are just after the dragging - Officer Fanone is out of frame on the right. 8/

Over 200 Proud Boys marched to the Capitol & attacked, but with different roles. While some left by 3:30 PM, #RayBanTerrorist's group stayed late, fighting at the tunnel. We used his exit to time out when Scott Chafian finally departed ca 4:30 PM. 9/

Finding #RayBanTerrorist was a true crowdsourced effort by dozens. He was hashtagged in Jan, FBI list in Feb, identified by July. He links Proud Boys leaders to tunnel violence, raises questions about radicalization. What drove his arc from modeling to military to militia? 15/