Fifth Tennessee resident arrested in connection to Capitol riots
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NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) — A spokesperson for the FBI confirmed a man was arrested in connection to the U.S. Capitol riots on Sunday morning.
The U.S. Attorney said FBI agents arrested Blake A. Reed on charges related to the riots. Reed was arrested in the Wedgewood-Houston community. News4 was there as FBI agents took him out of the home and into custody.
Reed has been charged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority and Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct on Capitol Grounds. He will appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge on Tuesday in Nashville.
Neighbors said they heard the FBI announce themselves around 6 a.m. when they arrived at the home.
“I looked out the window and saw flashing lights and folks in assault-style military gear,” neighbor Brice McCloud said. “The guy who lives there has always been super friendly to us.”
According to court documents, Reed was pictured with Matthew Bledsoe, who was arrested on Wednesday on similar charges in Memphis on Thursday.
Reed was pictured wearing a lowered gray respirator with purple and yellow tape bands around the filter cartridges where they meet the main part of the mask. He also has a distinctive pair of ski goggles with multi-colored glass on his upper forehead.
Reed also posted on his Facebook account a series of photos of the events leading up to the breach of the Capitol. Prominently featured in the upper left-hand corner photograph is a man in a distinctive pair of ski goggles with multi-colored glass on the upper portion of his face and a gray respirator with purple and yellow tape bands around the filter cartridges where they meet the main part of the mask on the lower portion of his face. This unusual outfit choice matches the attire of the man smiling alongside Mr. Bledsoe inside the Capitol. The Blake Austin Reed Facebook account screenshot includes the words, “We The People have spoken and we are pissed! No antifa, no BLM… We The People took the Capitol!”
Law enforcement was able to find LinkedIn profiles for Reed and Bledsoe showing they attended Germantown High School from 2000-02.
This makes the fifth person arrested from Tennessee in connection to the Capitol riot. The first arrest for riots at the U.S. Capitol was 30-year-old Eric Munchel of Nashville.
Munchel was seen in pictures wearing tactical gear and holding a handful of zip ties. He was referred to on social media as the ‘Zip Tie Guy.’ Munchel, who has no prior charges in the state of Tennessee, is expected to face a judge virtually on Tuesday for a detention hearing.
Munchel’s mother, 56-year-old Lisa Eisenhart, of Woodstock, GA, was taken into custody in Nashville by FBI Agents on January 16.
Two individuals appeared in photos to be Munchel and his mother, Eisenhart, roaming through the U.S. Capitol.
Gallatin resident Jack Jesse Griffith, known online as ‘Juan Bibiano,’ was the third Tennessean arrested for riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Arrest papers say FBI Agents identified Griffith in a video posted on Matthew Bledsoe’s social media. Bledsoe, from Memphis, was arrested on Friday for his involvement in the riot.
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