Left: Joshua Atwood at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 (Department of Justice). Center: Joshua Atwood (Chester Police Department). Right: Joshua Atwood assaulting police officers on Jan. 6 (DOJ).
A Jan. 6 rioter from Pennsylvania who was sentenced this month for violently attacking officers guarding the U.S. Capitol during the 2021 insurrection — hitting them with metal and wooden poles — must now face charges in West Virginia for pulling a knife on a restaurant owner and stabbing him with it, police say.
Joshua Atwood, 30, is accused of attacking the owner of Crazy Donkey Restaurant in Chester, West Virginia, in April 2023 following a dispute over money he claimed he was owed for handyman work, according to the Harrisburg Daily Voice. Atwood was hit with a count of armed robbery and malicious assault. He was captured by U.S. Marshals in Hanover Township on May 23, 2023.
Atwood set upon the Crazy Donkey owner, Jose Mocias-Onate, after an altercation in the kitchen of the Mexican restaurant, which is just blocks away from a police station, according to police. Atwood allegedly stole money from the main cash register and attempted to leave, sparking a scuffle between him and Mocias-Onate, which ended with Atwood reportedly pulling out a concealed knife and stabbing him in the arm, the Daily Voice reports.
Mocias-Onate was rushed to a hospital and later transferred to a trauma center in Pittsburgh, where he made a full recovery. The Crazy Donkey was forced to close temporarily but has since reopened.
Atwood, who was sentenced to 48 months in prison for his Jan. 6 case on Dec. 20, is now facing even more jail time as he awaits extradition to West Virginia. He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting officers using a dangerous weapon in the Jan. 6 case after prosecutors said he helped lead insurrectionists during a violent confrontation at “the Tunnel,” the site of the most vicious battle at the Capitol that day.
Atwood’s felonious conduct was said to have been a major part of the riots, which came in response to Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election.
“As he fought on the mob’s front line, Atwood relentlessly attacked the police with any object within his reach that could be used as a weapon — from a piece of fabric to a metal baseball bat,” prosecutors alleged in court filings. “As he beat the officers in the police line, Atwood called them ‘pieces of s—‘ and taunted that they were ‘betraying [their] country.””
Atwood was accused of attacking one officer using a bottle and another using a “long silver pole,” which he repeatedly thrust into the tunnel. He also threw a “small square object” into the tunnel at one point and “used a long wooden pole to strike multiple officers using a stabbing motion with a significant amount of force,” per the FBI.
Atwood wound up hitting two Metropolitan Police Department officers before taking a step back and jamming his pole at another cop before bringing it down atop their helmet and across their face plate. The pole also hit an assisting Virginia State police trooper’s head and neck.
“F— you guys, you are all pieces of s—,” Atwood allegedly screamed at police. “Everyone of you should be ashamed of yourself. Everyone of you mother f—ers are pieces of s—. Betraying your country like this, why would you betray your country? Do you love your country or do you want civil … communist f—-.”
A month after Jan. 6, he was arrested in Hanover for disorderly conduct after getting into an argument with officers who were conducting a traffic crash investigation, which led to a fight with a tow-truck driver. He allegedly claimed during the incident that officers were just “following orders like the Jews did when they entered concentration camps.” The truck driver that Atwood fought was Jewish.
Court documents say Atwood, who lives in Burgettstown with his fiancée and three children, was first identified in the Jan. 6 case after a tipster informed police they had recognized Atwood from a 2011 mug shot. A prominent scar on the left side of his forehead ultimately gave him away.
Jason Kandel and Brandi Buchman contributed to this report.
