Over half the people charged with taking part in the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol were not connected to extremist groups or to one another, according to an analysis of arrest information.
The study, by George Washington University's Program on Extremism, examined court documents and other data from 257 cases filed in federal court as of late February. It concluded that 33 of those charged were involved with militant networks and that 82 were connected with others through networks of like-minded believers, NBC News reports.
But the remaining 142 planned to go to the Capitol on their own, "inspired by a range of extremist narratives, conspiracy theories, and personal motivations."
The authors said the findings show that "conspiracy communities" are playing an expanding role in right-wing extremism that leads to violence, as followers of online theories mobilize in the real world.
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