‘The police stood down.’ SC residents who went to DC Wednesday share what they saw

A day after a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building, social media featured several South Carolinians who were in the nation’s capital city Wednesday.

While some South Carolinians said they remained peaceful and positive following a rally, others talked openly about storming the Capitol building. The riot was a last-resort method of ardent supporters of President Donald Trump who unsuccessfully tried to block Joe Biden from being sworn in as president.

The riot — the largest breach of the U.S. Capitol since the War of 1812 — was condemned unanimously by Democrats but also many Republicans.

“This is wrong. This is not who we are. I’m heartbroken for our nation today,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., alongside a video of rioters attacking police officers.

Local authorities are getting involved as well. U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Peter McCoy said publicly he will be seeking out and prosecuting people who committed crimes while storming the U.S. Capitol, according to an article from The State.

While many of the South Carolinians who spoke publicly about their experience in Washington, D.C., Wednesday said they didn’t see violence, videos and first-hand accounts show there was violence. Four people died following the riot, including one woman who was shot.

Here are stories from people who live in South Carolina or who have South Carolina ties, who talked publicly about their experience in the nation’s capital city yesterday.

Will Allen

When Will Allen joined with a mob of people who stormed the Capitol, it was “literally the most peaceful thing you could imagine,” he said in a Facebook Live video.

“It was surreal how everyone was chanting ‘USA’ ‘USA,’” Allen said in the video. “People had gotten up with megaphones and were saying ‘climb the wall’ and they climbed the wall. It’s literally all that happened. They chanted to the police ‘police stand down’ ‘police stand down’ and the police stood down.”

Allen’s Facebook page does not list a hometown or a home state. But he has commented on South Carolina issues and mentioned his “freedom-loving” friends in Lexington. He also posted a picture from inside a Lexington restaurant.

Allen said in the video, which has been posted to his Facebook page, that he didn’t witness any violence and decried the “fake news” that showed scenes of violence at the Capitol.

“Fake news is telling you ‘oh no it was a terrorist attack because of MAGA supporters.’ It’s the most hilarious thing in the world,” Allen said in the video.

“I can’t think of any time in human history when a capitol building has been breached and nothing happened other than this one guy I’m hearing about on the news,” Allen said.

The Kornemann family

Lexington, S.C., residents Lexie and Tracey Kornemann went to Washington, D.C., not to protest, but for the pro-Trump rally, they said.

“Why wouldn’t we go witness this day and support our president and what we believe in?” Lexie Kornemann, a University of South Carolina alumna, told The State on Thursday. “We had no excuse not to.”

The only violence the Kornemanns witnessed was two puffs of smoke they later found out was tear gas, they said. They didn’t breach the Capitol and did not support those who did, Tracey said.

“Contrary to what everyone was seeing on the news, 99.9% of it was peaceful,” Tracey Kornemann told The State. “Was there a .1%...that we don’t agree with? Absolutely. But I think the entire day was positive.”

Like many Americans, Tracey Kornemann was shocked a group of protesters were able to breach the Capitol.

“Having gone into the capitol numerous times, the security is so tight. There are no unlocked doors for people to walk into,” Tracey Kornemann said. “As a citizen, my question is what went wrong that anybody with violent intentions were able to get that far?”

Jene Smiley Gilchrist

Gilchrist, a Summerville, S.C. resident, led a bus full of people in the Bikers for Trump South Carolina group to the capital in support of President Trump, according to a Facebook video.

Gilchrist described his experience at-length in the video and denounced the violence that occurred in the Capitol building.

“I was angry yesterday, but also let me be clear, at no time was I even on the Capitol grounds. I attended the march, I listened to Donald Trump speak, I organized a bus to go to Washington, D.C., for the march and I can assure you that the people on that bus, not one single person on that bus had any intentions to go to Washington, D.C., to commit a crime,” said Gilchrist.

Gilchrist described people walking down the street pulling wagons and blaring music, people dancing in the street and “having a good time.”

While he denounced the violence, Gilchrist also said that he didn’t know the rules for the Capitol building and described it as “the people’s house” where anyone is free to go in.

“I personally believe that we as American citizens have the right to walk into our Capitol,” Gilchrist said.

Henri’ Thompson

Henri’ Thompson, who was born in the S.C. Upstate and is a former aide to U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., was in Washington Wednesday during the riots, he said.

Thompson was at a work lunch meeting on Pennsylvania Avenue while Trump supporters were outside. He spoke to a few pro-Trump people in the crowd, many of whom saw that he was a casually dressed African American man and dismissed the conversation, Thompson said.

Though Thompson thought that was rude, the crowd didn’t start becoming hostile until Trump spoke Wednesday.

“The rhetoric the president was using yesterday added a lot of fuel to the fire,” Thompson said.

“It was just a perfect storm of a lot of people who wanted to stir things up,” he said.

This story will be updated as more South Carolinians share their stories.

This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 1:34 PM.