EXCLUSIVE: Jan. 6 Police Radio Tapes Reveal Orders to Use Force on Early Crowd

Commanders ordered officers to 'unload it all!' and 'take 'em out!'

A U.S. Capitol Police officer is struck in the helmet by a pepper ball fired from above by a fellow officer on the Capitol's west plaza in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Special to The Epoch Times

Minutes after the crowd filled the west plaza of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol Police began firing on protesters with projectiles and explosive munitions after commanders ordered officers to “Launch!” and “Take ‘em out!”

Capitol Police (USCP) dispatch audio recordings obtained by The Epoch Times suggest that police weren’t expecting that the surging crowd would attempt to breach the lightly defended west sidewalks leading to the Capitol just before 1 p.m. that day.