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SALT LAKE CITY — Six months before stabbing a man to death in Liberty Park in a dispute over money, it appears that a Salt Lake man may have traveled to Washington and participated in the U.S. Capitol riot while armed with a gun.
But despite published photos that appear to show him at the Capitol that day displaying a weapon, despite tips sent to the FBI about him and despite the fact that he told police he was part of the mob that went inside the Capitol that day, the Utah man has not been arrested or charged in connection with the riot and it's unknown whether he has even been questioned by the FBI.
During an interview after the fatal stabbing in the Salt Lake City park on July 4, 2021, John Banuelos made an odd statement to the two Salt Lake police detectives.
"Man, should I just tell the FBI to come get me or what ...?" Banuelos, 37, asked detectives, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by KSL.com through a public records request.
"Do you have a warrant?" one detective asked.
"Probably," he said. "I was in the D.C. riots."
"On Jan. 6?" the other detective asked. "Did you go inside the Capitol?"
"Yeah, I went inside and I'm the one with the video with the gun right here," Banuelos said.
In total, Banuelos ultimately told Salt Lake police three times that he was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, according to police reports. The detectives, however, were interviewing him about the killing at Liberty Park.
Online sleuths believe they have identified Banuelos in photos published by the FBI from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The man is pictured in FBI photos with a handgun in his waistband. As of Friday, eight Utah residents have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Efforts to reach Banuelos were unsuccessful, as calls and messages went unreturned as of Friday.
Jan. 6 Capitol riot
Banuelos told police he was among the hundreds of supporters of former President Donald Trump who stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to interfere with the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States.
A group called the Sedition Hunters — an online community of open-source "intelligence investigators" who provide tips and information to the FBI agents investigating the Capitol riot — told KSL.com they believe Banuelos is the man depicted in FBI Photograph 200 in the bureau's long list of wanted photos from Jan. 6 that was published online. In the photo, the man can be seen in a distinctive cowboy hat. Other versions of the same photo show the man displaying what appears to be a handgun.
Photograph 200 is labeled by the FBI with "AOM" — meaning the individual is wanted for assault on members of the media by displaying a weapon to a news photographer. It is also illegal to carry firearms on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, according to U.S. Capitol Police.
A video published by VICE News after the attack depicts the man pushing against a line of police officers outside of the Capitol. Moments later, the man can be seen pulling up his shirt so the handgun near his waist is visible as a nearby photographer, Balazs Gardi, takes a photo. The interaction was also mentioned in an article published by the New Yorker after the attack, which features Gardi's photos from that day.
Reporter Luke Mogelson described the man in a cowboy hat lifting his jacket to reveal a revolver tucked into his waistband. "Other Trump supporters had Tasers, baseball bats, and truncheons. I saw one man holding a coiled noose. 'Hang Mike Pence!' people yelled," he wrote in the New Yorker.
The Sedition Hunters told KSL.com they notified the FBI of Banuelos in February 2021 by sending in tips online and by calling an FBI tip line. The tipsters told KSL.com they identified Banuelos after analyzing his clothing from the attack, social media posts and other available information online.
When reached for comment, a spokeswoman with the FBI field office in Salt Lake City declined to comment to KSL.com and directed questions about Banuelos to the Washington FBI field office. A spokeswoman for the Washington office responded Friday, saying, "The FBI cannot comment on an ongoing investigation."
Roughly six months after the Capitol riot, Banuelos was seated in an interview room at the Salt Lake City Public Safety Building talking to detectives, just hours after he stabbed a man, according to a Salt Lake police report.
July 4, 2021
Around 1:15 p.m., police were dispatched to Liberty Park after hearing reports of a stabbing on the Fourth of July.
Officer Joseph Sanchez, one of the first officers at the scene, noted "numerous people pointing at Banuelos," who was sitting on a hill roughly 50 feet from where 19-year-old Christopher Senn was laying on the ground, according to a Salt Lake police report. Sanchez ran to where Banuelos was sitting before he and another officer placed him in handcuffs.
He later ran to Senn to render first aid, and a witness to the ordeal helped perform CPR. Sanchez wrote that he "was able to find a weakened pulse" on Senn, before continuing with first aid. Later he said he "could see the open wound on the middle of his chest." Senn was later pronounced dead at the scene.
An autopsy determined Senn's cause of death was due to the stabbing, with the manner of death being homicide, according to the police report.
Police interviewed numerous witnesses at Liberty Park on the day of the stabbing and in the days afterward, with witnesses telling varying stories about the incident. Investigators were told there was some sort of dispute about money which resulted in a fight.
Witnesses told police that Banuelos stabbed Senn with a knife after Senn had hit Banuelos in the head with a skateboard, leaving a gash that required stitches, the reports state. After police had placed Banuelos in handcuffs, he was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
An officer noted in another report that he saw Banuelos "covered in blood and pepper spray," while sitting on the ground and handcuffed. Banuelos pointed the knife out to the officer, who wrote that the knife had blood on it and was "staked into the ground near the suspect," his report says.
Multiple witnesses told police the dispute was over $150. One person who knew Senn told police they believed Banuelos had taken the money, though Banuelos and other witnesses denied that was the case.
Salt Lake police interviewed Banuelos the same day as the stabbing, where he told police he feared for his life and was assaulted and pepper-sprayed.
"I know that kid will never be able to come back," Banuelos told police, according to a transcript of the interview. "I don't even know where he went, to heaven or hell, I don't know, man, OK? All I know is I did it to defend my life, man. You know what I'm saying? My intentions were never to go there and to do that. I was relaxing. I wanted to smoke weed. I wanted to chill. I brought my beer. I was just chilling.
"I have the right to defend my life, man, OK? They were trying to hurt me, man, for $150 that I did not take. They were accusing my wife and me and yelling and swearing and trying to hurt me, man," he told police.
According to the transcript, Banuelos twice offers up information about how he was at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
"I'm from Chicago. I was in the D.C. riots. You can look me up, OK? The FBI hasn't came and got me yet, OK?" he said to detective Weldon Wilson, one of the two in the interview after the stabbing, according to the transcript. He mentions the gun during the second time he brings up the U.S. Capitol riot to police.
"Yeah, I went inside and I'm the one with the video with the gun right here," Banuelos said, according to the police report.
On July 16, Wilson spoke with Banuelos in a follow-up call. In a report, Wilson wrote that Banuelos said people had been harassing and threatening him. Toward the end of the call, Banuelos told Wilson he is a "conservative Republican," and again mentioned Jan. 6.
"John then talked about going where Donald Trump sent him and talked about the Jan. 6 riot," Wilson wrote in the report. "I told John that had nothing to do with what we were talking about. John said you have to get the whole picture.
"I told John it did not make sense and John responded, telling me it did not make sense because he was high and drunk. I told John I was not going to talk to him while he was high. John told me he was trying to help. John and I talked a little more before our phone call concluded."
When reached for comment, a spokesman for the Salt Lake City Police Department referred any questions about the case to the Salt Lake FBI field office.
On Aug. 5, just over a month after the fatal stabbing, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office sent a letter to Wilson indicating they it was declining to file any charges against Banuelos in connection with Senn's death.
"Based upon the information provided to our office for screening, we have determined that we are unable to proceed with the prosecution of John Emmanuel Banuelos at this time," according to the letter, which is included in the reports. "This office would be more than happy to revisit this matter if further information is developed which more adequately supports the prosecution of said individual."
When reached for comment, a spokesman for the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office said only that it files cases based on the evidence it has.
'I'm heartbroken'
Senn's death left a lasting impact on those who knew him best. In an obituary published after his death, family members wrote that Senn "became a victim of a senseless act of violence protecting his friend."
Victoria Thomas, Senn's foster mother, told NBC News that Banuelos had no reason to kill her foster son. She was troubled to learn that the FBI had apparently been tipped off about her foster son's killer months before the stabbing.
"I'm heartbroken," she said. "We're disappointed in the justice system. ... He should have been arrested and he should be in jail for murdering Christopher."
Randal Thomas, Senn's foster father, was surprised to learn that Banuelos may have had the means to travel to Washington and to learn that the FBI had received tips about his foster's son's killer last year.
"That's terrible," Randal Thomas said. "I don't know what other stuff he's done since, but this stabbing of Chris is just so senseless."
Other court cases
Since the fatal stabbing on July 4, Banuelos has been arrested at least two times, according to Utah court records.
The most recent case, Banuelos was charged on Nov. 2 with assault, a class B misdemeanor, in connection with an incident on Aug. 8. A police affidavit alleges Banuelos physically assaulted a woman in Salt Lake City by grabbing her arm and taking a phone from her hand. Police say the altercation left the woman with "sustained redness to her upper arm."
On Sept. 20, he was charged in Provo with domestic violence assault and interference with an arresting officer, class B misdemeanors, in addition to disorderly conduct, an infraction. The charges stem from a Sept. 18 incident at a Maverik gas station in Provo where he was accused of hitting a woman who police say lives with Banuelos and their children, according to a police affidavit.
The charges from Sept. 20 in Provo mention that Banuelos has a criminal record in Utah and Illinois, though no domestic violence convictions.
As of Friday, court records show Banuelos has an active arrest warrant for failing to appear for a court date in Provo. An arrest warrant has also been proposed in his Salt Lake misdemeanor case.
Contributing: Ryan J. Reilly, NBC News