Nicholas Languerand, a native Vermonter who was convicted of a federal crime for his actions during the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, died by suicide in late May, according to authorities in South Carolina.
The 31-year-old had been living in Wolcott before the insurrection and moved to South Carolina not long after it. He was the subject of a 2022 Seven Days cover story that explored how far-fetched conspiracy theories and radical politics — fueled by social media — propelled the then-26-year-old from a trailer in the Vermont woods to the front line of the insurrection.
Languerand was arrested in April 2021 after federal agents used his own social media posts to place him at the U.S. Capitol, where video footage showed him throwing various objects at riot police. He pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon and served about three years in federal prison before getting released in August 2024.
Five months later, President Donald Trump issued a sweeping grant of clemency to Languerand and nearly 1,600 others who had been charged in connection with the January 6 attack.
News of Languerand’s death has been picked up by right-wing corners of the internet, where J6 rioters and their sympathizers have sought to hold him up as the latest martyr of former president Joe Biden’s persecution campaign.
A story on the Gateway Pundit, a right-wing news website known for trafficking misinformation, blamed Languerand’s suicide on “the pressures of being a targeted political prisoner,” despite no evidence to back up that claim. A similar theory was floated by Enrique Tarrio, the ex-leader of the far-right Proud Boys, whose 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy was commuted by Trump.
“Rest in Peace Brother,” Tarrio wrote in a tweet about Languerand’s death. “We see you. We won’t forget. This ends when the weaponizers are held accountable.”
According to records obtained by Seven Days from police in Horry County, S.C., witnesses saw Languerand crash his car into a ditch around 7 p.m. on May 31 before he got out and shot himself. His grandfather told the coroner that Languerand used drugs and had been going through a breakup, but he thought he “was doing better.”
Reached by Seven Days last month, Languerand’s grandmother declined to comment on his death. An obituary published in Morrisville’s News & Citizen newspaper last month described him as a “bright and talented young man” who was passionate about music and artistry.
“He loved his motorcycle and the outdoors. He worked in construction like his dad,” the obit read.
Lucy Tompkins contributed reporting.
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