FALL RIVER, MASS. (WHDH) - A Fall River business owner who participated in the riot at the United States Capitol last week described the tension he felt there that day and said he regretted attending.
Mike St. Pierre, 44, of Swansea, owns a grocery store in Fall River and said he has lost business because of his actions on that day. Now, he said he is concerned about his future after he was interviewed by the FBI.
“It started when we were all, you know, at the speech,” Pierre said referring to President Trump’s fiery rally that led a mob of people to Capitol Hill on January 6.
St. Pierre made his way there broadcasting everything on Facebook Live.
He said that initially he and his group stayed 50 yards away from the Capitol Building but he said police took action, which he found unnecessary.
“They started throwing tear gas into the crowd,” he recalled. “There’s old people, there’s people with canes and stuff. So, when they threw the tear gas into the crowd, I got upset.”
St. Pierre admitted he was caught on video throwing an object at a door but said it was a broken piece of a flag topper, not a smoke bomb as he says was reported online.
He said he never went inside the Capitol and his actions did not cause harm to anyone else.
“It bounced off the door; I left shortly after that,” he explained. “You get carried away and at the end of the day I am aggravated and I am hurt by it. I am still hurt by it because I shouldn’t have even gotten involved with it to begin with.”
The FBI got in touch with St. Pierre and questioned him about the events that day. They specifically asked him if he were part of a militia group, namely the Proud Boys.
His answer? No.
“That was my birthday so it made it even worse. It was just a disgusting time. I still feel sick to my stomach about the whole event,” he said.
When asked if he felt he did anything wrong, St. Pierre said, “When you look at it, I threw something off of a door– a closed door. I definitely didn’t go there to hurt anybody or cause any harm. But, of course, I feel bad. I regret that I went.”
St. Pierre admitted that during his live video he talked about storming the Capitol and grabbing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi by the hair and spinning her around. He said that was all hyperbole and it happened before he saw any violence.
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