Inset: Tyler Bradley Dykes appears in Justice Department-provided side-by-side identifying photo. Yellow mark on each indicates to facial scar police used to ID Dykes. Background: Justice Department provided photo shows Dykes behind shield he allegedly stole from police after storming Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
A man convicted of burning a tiki torch while chanting white supremacist slogans at the Unite the Right rally in 2017 has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors and has admitted to assaulting two police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Tyler Bradley Dykes, a former U.S. Marine of South Carolina, pleaded guilty to two felony charges in connection to his criminal conduct at the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to his plea agreement. He faces up to eight years in prison and he will be sentenced in July. After the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Dykes, 26, was charged and pleaded guilty to a single felony count of burning an object with intent to intimidate.
Bill Nettles, an attorney for Dykes, told Law&Crime via email that the South Carolina man was not arrested for the 2017 incident until 2023. He was sentenced in 2023 to five years, all of which was suspended except for six months. When he was released from custody for the Unite the Right incident, he was arrested for his alleged crimes connected to Jan. 6.
Dykes’ statement of offense tied to Jan. 6 notes that he was part of several Telegram channels discussing allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election as well as calls for violence to overthrow the government by force.
Around New Year’s Eve 2020, investigators said Dykes was exposed to Telegram channels where people prattled on about their 3D-printed “battle rifles” or vowed that “Accountablity [sic] comes from violence and force.” The same channel shared quotes from Adolf Hitler on Jan. 5, 2021, and on Jan. 6, 2021, investigators say Dykes was part of a group in which some people declared: “The White man doesn’t riot often but when he does it echoes the world over” and “F— peace. The time for peace has passed. Hail holy terror. Hail chaos. The sooner the average r—– lose faith in this corrupt government, the sooner we can rebuild properly.”
Dykes came with two friends from South Carolina to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 and once the rioting began, he wasted little time joining the mob, according to the statement of offense. He made it all the way to the East Rotunda doors where he helped rioters flow past police, his statement of offense notes, and eventually “pushed his way to the front of the mob” and “forcibly, voluntarily and intentionally grabbed hold of one U.S. Capitol Police officer’s riot shield.”
“These shields are heavy, made of very hard plastic and over five-feet tall,” prosecutors wrote.
In his gray puffer jacked and neck gaiter pulled up to obscure his face plus a hat pulled low, investigators noted how in footage from Jan. 6, Dykes stood “about a head taller” than many rioters around him and he could be seen on video in a tug-of-war over a riot shield with one officer. When Dykes finally managed to snatch the shield away, prosecutors said he lifted it over his head, turned away from the doors and started to reorient himself as members of the mob unleashed pepper spray at the officer Dykes had just rendered vulnerable. The scene was chaos as he started using the shield as a ram of sorts, the statement of offense notes, forcibly pushing his way through rioters in front of him and up against the overwhelmed police desperately trying to secure the East Rotunda door.
Once he forced his way inside, investigators say he began to chant “treason, treason, treason!” with others.
Using the same riot shield “as leverage,” Dykes forced his way to closer to the Senate chamber and impeded officers there. Prosecutors noted that just before he left, he surrendered the shield to an officer. Once outside, he crossed to the Capitol’s west front where despite a darkening sky and the presence of thousands of rioters still occupying the inaugural stage, Dykes did not leave until more tear gas and flash-bangs were deployed by police.
Dykes’ attorney declined to comment on the plea deal or pending sentencing Monday.
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