Kevin Greeson, one of the Trump supporters that was reported to have died from a “medical emergency” during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, formerly revered President Barack Obama.
Greeson died of a heart attack while rallying against President Donald Trump‘s election loss. Twelve years prior, he had witnessed Obama’s inauguration.
According to a ProPublica report, Greeson had been a longtime Democrat who supported unions and progressive policies. However, he began following fringe right-wing news sources and started posting inflammatory comments on the conservative-backed social media site Parler.
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Posts leading up to his death included calls to “load your guns and take to the streets” and promoted conspiracy theories that the election had somehow been stolen.
“He was a vice president at the union, and he was an Obama supporter,” Mark McDaniel, the attorney representing the Greeson family, told ProPublica. “He got interested in Trump because he felt he was more business-minded, and as the economy kept getting better, he kept getting more interested in Trump.”
Greeson, who passed away at age 55, has not been implicated in any criminal activity at the Capitol and possessed no illegal weapons — unlike another protester who had brought 11 Molotov cocktails.
Despite his threatening online posts, Greeson’s attorney believes he was not planning to commit any violent acts at the Capitol. According to the incident report, Greeson was pronounced dead at 2:05 p.m., just minutes before the first rioters stormed into the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“I think that he looked at social media as something where he was just talking to friends. Nothing in this man’s life would lead anyone to believe that he was headed up there to do anything bad or anything sinister,” McDaniel said. “According to [his wife], he was just a really big Trump supporter, and he wanted to go up there and show his support and live the experience.”
Initial rumors that Greeson tased himself to death are false, and his wife has told media that he “had a history of high blood pressure, and in the midst of the excitement, suffered a heart attack.”
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