Seneca man charged with assaulting officer, commiting multiple felonies during January 6 insurrection

A Seneca man was charged today with multiple felonies, including assaulting officers in connection with the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U. S. Capitol.

The initial court appearance for Joshua Kyler Bard, 26, was held today in U. S. District Court in Springfield.

In addition to assaulting a law enforcement officer, Bard faces the following charges:

-Obstruction of law enforcement during civil disobedience

-Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds

-Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted buiding or grounds

-Engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds

-Disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds

-Act of physical violence on Capitol grounds

The allegations against Bard were detailed in the probable cause affidavit (places where photos are mentioned indicate photos that are included in the affidavit, not all of which are included in this post).

Based on an initial review of publicly available video footage, USCP surveillance footage, and body worn camera (“BWC”) footage of officers who responded to the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, a white male wearing a white sweatshirt and red, white and blue winter hat with the words “Trump” and a “45” logo, who has been identified as KYLER JOSEPH BARD, as described below, can be seen engaged in inciting a crowd of rioters and an assault against M.G., a law enforcement officer guarding the United States Capitol. 

A review of Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) BWC footage showed that at approximately 3:28 p.m. on January, 6, 2021, BARD was standing on a ledge on the Upper West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol, where officers, including M.G., had formed a police line as a barrier against the riot crowd. 

At approximately 3:30 p.m., BARD could be seen walking on top of the ledge and carrying a megaphone. Shortly thereafter, BARD can be heard yelling into the megaphone, “Move! Move! Move! We gotta push! We gotta push! Let’s go! We gotta go! Let’s go!

BARD then turned directly to Officer M.G. and, as he yelled “let’s push!,” BARD pushed Officer M.G.

Office M.G. repelled BARD’s assault, and BARD fell backwards after continuing to resist and push against Officer M.G. As BARD fell to the ground, BARD yelled to the crowd of officers, “You’re all a bunch of pieces of shit.” 

BARD then got up and retreated back into the crowd. A review of a video posted to Twitter showed a person that appeared to be BARD talking on a cell phone outside the Capitol. 

BARD can be heard stating, “I’ve already been maced, punched, they took my microphone away, and, uh, when I punched them, they punched me back. Maced me in the face. But it’s what we gotta do. We gotta get inside, we gotta take it over. We gotta do it.”

Following the January 6 attack, images of BARD participating in the riot appeared on the internet. Based on the images, the FBI created a profile for BARD as moniker “AFO-447.” 

The FBI posted images of BARD to its website and to social media to seek public assistance in identifying BARD. A confidential human source (CHS) provided the FBI with open-source material from the Instagram account of a “kyler_bard” that appeared to show BARD on the grounds of the Capitol. In the Instagram postings provided to the FBI, the account of “kyler_bard,” which appears to be associated with KYLER JOSEPH BARD, posted pictures of BARD around the Capitol Complex stating his presence in D.C. 

In Figure 6, the user of Instagram account “kyler_bard” posted a photo of someone appearing to pour water in BARD’S eyes and referenced how, on January 6, he was “maced and punched for yelling in a megaphone.

A review of additional open source information, including BARD’s Facebook page, was compared with the images of “AFO-447.” A comparison of the photographs posted to BARD’s social media and images taken at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 showed BARD to be consistent with the invidual who assaulted Officer M.G.

BARD’s driver’s license photo was also compared with both BARD’s Facebook photos and photos of AFO-447, and the photos appeared to be consistent with BARD. BARD was subsequently contacted at his place of residence in Missouri. 

The FBI Special Agent who interviewed BARD was able to confirm that BARD was the same individual as depicted in the photographs above. During the interview, BARD admitted to attending the Stop The Steal rally in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, but informed agents that he did not enter the Capitol and did nothing illegal.

Bard is free on a personal recognizance bond.

Court records indicate Bard is represented by prominent Springfield attorney Joseph Passanise.