27-year-old Robert Morss is one of the people charged with participating in the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, and according to court documents, he made it pretty easy for investigators to make sure he was their guy, leaving behind a trove of evidence including weapons, handwritten instructions for how to create a “hometown militia,” and a fully-constructed LEGO® model of the Capitol building.
It would be pretty silly to think that Morss would have been using the LEGO set for any sort of reconnaissance purposes. However, we’re also talking about a man who composed a document that might as well have been labeled “How To Do the Exact Crimes I Am Accused Of” and then left it out for investigators to find so I don’t think we can rule anything out based on silliness alone.
According to his arrest warrant, Morss didn’t just participate in the riot, but he seemed to fancy himself a leader. The FBI provided evidence that appears to show Morss on the front line of multiple violent encounters, including repeatedly grabbing police officers’ weapons and shields and trying to take them, sometimes successfully. There is also footage showing him at the front of crowds violently pushing through police guarding doorways and yelling instructions to other rioters, getting them to “organize” and form a “shield wall.”
On Wednesday afternoon, “Legos” was trending on Twitter, mostly because of right-wing responses to the Daily Beast’s headline about the set, insisting that it’s ridiculous for the FBI to focus on someone’s LEGOs instead of actual violent criminals.
Are you guys insane @FBI?
All the violent crime that has taken place over the last year in cities across America – ruining lives destroying property including federal property – and you guys are fucking bragging about finding Lego toys?
The FBI has become a complete joke.
— David Wohl (@DavidWohl) July 7, 2021
Meanwhile, the dude who placed two actual pipe bombs the night before remains free to build whatever he wants to build. @FBI https://t.co/WLZZnexzWN
— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) July 7, 2021
OK so maybe the “insurrectionists” weren’t armed, didn’t have plans to kidnap lawmakers, didn’t bring zip ties, didn’t kill any cops, but one of them … had Legos! https://t.co/IkuU7l1Ss9
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 7, 2021
Man wait until they find out my five-year-old has a fully-assembled Lego Death Star at home https://t.co/wcpMr5Pfvq
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 7, 2021
Of course, if any of these people had bothered to actually read the article, they’d know that the LEGOs, while funny, were literally parenthetical in the court document listing the items seized. Much more important are the other things listed, including multiple weapons and, again, a handwritten list titled “Step by Step To Create Hometown Militia,” which included reminders like “Bring assault rifle” and “4 magazines.”
The fact that Morss appears to have also gone full Doc Brown in his approach to the Capitol is not not concerning. But it is by far the least worrisome thing found in his home (while also being objectively hilarious).
(via The Daily Beast, The Smoking Gun, image: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
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