A substitute teacher in the Shaler Area School District has been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, the latest Pittsburgh-area resident to be accused of federal crimes among the 500 or so people arrested so far.
FBI agents from the Pittsburgh office arrested Robert Morss on Friday on charges of assaulting officers, civil disorder, robbery of personal property of the U.S. and obstruction of an official proceeding.
The FBI said Mr. Morss, a day-to-day substitute social studies teacher who lives in Glenshaw, is seen in multiple videos fighting with police.
In most of the videos he is wearing tan camouflage clothing with a tactical-style vest, scissors tucked in the front of the vest, tan gloves and at times a Make America Great Again hat.
Video shows him near the front line of rioters who pushed past police guarding the Capitol, organizing a “shield wall” in the attack on officers in the Lower West Terrace tunnel and then entering the building through a broken window, the FBI said.
At one point, Mr. Morss is seen grabbing an officer’s baton and trying to rip it away, agents said in an affidavit.
He is also seen reaching through the crowd and grabbing a fence being held by police to keep the crowd back and then ripping the fence out of the hands of an officer with the assistance of other rioters. He is seen retreating into the crowd with the fence, the FBI said.
Mr. Morss is heard saying to police, “You guys are betraying us. You get paid enough to betray your own people?” and then telling others, “This is our Capitol. This is our Capitol.”
Further video shows him and others struggling with an officer over a black flagpole and grabbing a helmet visor out of the hands of an officer.
Mr. Morss is also seen at one point grabbing an officer’s shield and pulling it away from him. He passes the shield to other rioters behind him, who pass it back into the crowd. Mr. Morss is heard yelling to the crowd about creating a “shield wall” and telling others to pass up more shields, the FBI said.
“Hey, everyone with a shield, back up and organize! Make a shield wall! Organize right now and make a shield wall. Where are those [expletive] shields!” Mr. Morss is heard saying on video, according to the affidavit.
Later, as rioters tried to push past officers through the Lower West Terrace doors of the Capitol, Mr. Morss is heard instructing someone else in the crowd to “block out” or “take out” a security camera. The video then shows that person repeatedly hitting the camera with the tip of a flagpole.
Mr. Morss eventually left the tunnel and entered the Capitol through a broken window, according to the affidavit.
After the FBI circulated photos of Mr. Morss, a witness came forward to identify him as a Penn State graduate. A second witness said Mr. Morss had previously served in the military and “may struggle with some mental health issues” as a result, according to the affidavit.
In addition, financial records from an account owned by Mr. Morss showed that he used Uber to travel from Virginia to Washington, D.C., on the morning of Jan. 6 and stopped at a gas station in Falls Church, Va., on Jan. 7, 2021, the FBI said.
Mr. Morss appeared briefly before a federal magistrate judge in Pittsburgh Friday afternoon but waived all hearings to federal court in the District of Columbia, where his case will be heard.
He remains in U.S. custody.
Torsten Ove: tove@post-gazette.com.
First Published: June 11, 2021, 1:30 p.m.
Updated: June 11, 2021, 3:57 p.m.
