‘Boy That Escalated Quickly’: Jan. 6 Rioter’s Google Searches Come Back to Haunt Him
“How do i take my gun with me on a flight,” Matthew Stickney allegedly asked the internet in the days before the insurrection.
Brent Stirton/Getty Images
In the run-up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, rioter Matthew Lawrence Stickney allegedly made a series of suspicious—and amusing—Google searches, including “can i carry a knife on a plane,” “how do i take my gun with me on a flight,” and “weed legal in d.c.”
This month, those searches came back to haunt him, turning up in an arrest warrant filed against Stickney, who’s been charged with disorderly and disruptive conduct inside the Capitol building, among other counts.
The federal government amassed a trove of evidence that allegedly links Stickney to the riot, using surveillance footage, flight records, phone location data, and the search history from his Google account.
Two days before the riot, Stickney made a series of alarming searches before boarding a flight to D.C., asking the internet: “can i bring walkie talkies on a plane,” “can i bring a gas mask on a plane” and “can i carry a knife on a plane.”
The criminal complaint makes no mention of Stickney ultimately bringing any weapon with him into the complex or on flights in or out of D.C.
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At 4:12 p.m. ET on Jan 6, 2021—midway through the riot—Stickney searched the phrase “boy that escalated quickly.”
As an FBI Special Agent noted in the warrant: “‘Boy, that escalated quickly’ is a reference from the 2004 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy to a fight that got out of hand, resulting in serious injury and death to some participants.”
Later that night, Stickney searched for “hands burning from pepper spray.” Days later, on Jan. 10, he searched “us capitol,” according to the warrant.
Stickney is one of over 1,200 individuals the Department of Justice has charged in connection with the Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021.
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