Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania – The FBI raided the home of Rachel Powell, a single mother of eight children suspected of playing a role in the attack on the US Capitol on Thursday, CBS Pittsburgh reports. Officers swarmed around the house looking for evidence to build a case against Powell and for clues that might point to where she was going.
Neighbors say that Powell and some of the younger children have not been seen for a week or more and are apparently in hiding.
Until Thursday, the FBI had refused to even call Powell a suspect and is now only issuing a brief statement, stating that the agency has received a search warrant for the raid on the house and that they are looking for her.
“We are conducting court-authorized law enforcement activities at that location. We are looking for Rachel Powell’s whereabouts,” the FBI said.
Any arrest or fugitive warrant would be sealed and would not be made public until Powell is located or turns himself in. However, the raid pretty much confirms that Powell is the “ megaphone star, ” says CBS Pittsburgh.
Powell can be clearly seen in videos that brought a battering ram to the Capitol during the attack on January 6.
She has come to be known as “the bullhorn lady” who seemed to have knowledge of the map of the Capitol. She could be seen on video telling insurgents where to go.
Powell is of particular interest to federal detectives because if she had that knowledge, it could indicate that the attack was pre-planned.
But Powell denies it in a piece in The New Yorker magazine.
The FBI has posted photos of her and sought the help of the public.
Neighbors were shocked by the raid and the reasons for it.
‘It’s crazy. We are Republican, but we would never do something like that. Biden is currently president. Deal with it. Get over it, ”Teresa Chisholm remarked to CBS Pittsburgh.