Two brothers were arrested on Thursday, accused of assaulting Erin Schaff, a New York Times staff photographer, in the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 mob incident that occurred over three years ago, The Guardian reports. David Walker, 49, of Delran, New Jersey, and Philip Walker, 52, of Upper Chichester, Pennsylvania, also are charged with robbery, for stealing a camera from the photographer during the 2021 attack. Philip Walker told the FBI that he believed the photographer was a member of “antifa”, a term for anti-fascist activists who often clash with far-right extremists at political protests -- and that, on his way home to Washington, DC, he tossed a camera into a body of water.
Schaff wrote about her experience at the Capitol, recalling that two or three men in black surrounded her, demanded to know her employer and became angry when they grabbed her press pass and saw that she worked for the New York Times. “They threw me to the floor, trying to take my cameras,” she wrote. “I started screaming for help as loudly as I could. No one came. People just watched. At this point, I thought I could be killed and no one would stop them.” Schaff said police didn’t believe that she was a journalist, because her press pass was stolen. Philip Walker was carrying what appeared to be Schaff’s photographic equipment as he fled, the FBI said. David Walker pushed Schaff again when she tried to pursue his brother and retrieve her equipment, according to the affidavit.
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