Inset: Ryan Nichols (Harrison County Sheriff's Office). Background: Ryan Nichols at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot (United States House Select Committee).
A Jan. 6 rioter from Texas who was pardoned by President Donald Trump and claimed he had "completely changed" since the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack was arrested Sunday and charged with deadly conduct after allegedly threatening a churchgoer with a gun.
Ryan Nichols, 36, is accused of displaying and grabbing the weapon, a pistol, while threatening and confronting a man over a "prior disagreement" in the parking lot of Oak Grove Baptist Church in Harleton, according to local police officials.
"Nichols confronted a subject … and whenever the subject attempted to leave and de-escalate the situation Nichols continued to confront him," the Harrison County Sheriff's Office said in a press release. "The victim stated that they turned away from Nichols and attempted to usher his family towards their vehicle while asking Nichols to go to his own vehicle and leave."
Nichols, who attempted to run for Congress before dropping out in 2025, allegedly continued confronting the victim as the man was putting his family in his vehicle and asking Nichols "to leave him alone several times."
After facing Nichols, the victim told police that Nichols "raised his shirt up to display a firearm" and placed his hand upon the grip in a "threatening manner causing the victim to be in fear of imminent serious bodily injury," per the sheriff's office.
"He gripped it completely," Harrison County Sheriff B.J. Fletcher told local ABC affiliate KLTV in an interview about the incident. "He did more than enough gesture to put you in fear of your life. That constitutes deadly conduct."
Describing the victim and his family, Fletcher said, "Those people are obviously scared of him and did think that he was wanting that to escalate to another level."
Fletcher told KLTV that the victim was not armed and was "holding a Bible." He said that "luckily" a bystander stepped in and de-escalated things.
"[The victim] had finished putting his kid in the backseat," Fletcher recounted. "Another subject that watched this happen, when the gunplay started, he got out and came over and got between them and told them this isn't something that needs to happen here. And they left."
Nichols had a warrant out for his arrest for harassment and is "possibly" facing an additional charge in Harrison County related to the deadly conduct incident, according to Fletcher. He was among the 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants pardoned by Trump on the president's first day of his second term on Jan. 20, 2025, after being convicted for his involvement in the Capitol attack.
"I am the person to blame for what happened that day," Nichols claimed in 2023 as he pleaded guilty to a felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding and a felony count of assaulting officers performing their duties, according to NBC News.
Nichols said his actions that day — which included taking weapons to the Capitol and "assaulting members of the U.S. Capitol Police," according to a DOJ complaint — were a "bad choice" that he was "very sorry for." He claimed that he had "completely changed" since the attack, per NBC.
On Jan. 6 this year, Nichols described how it was important for people to "think through every decision," according to local CBS affiliate KYTX.
"Do not let emotion override judgment," Nichols claimed. "You were pardoned once. There are no guarantees beyond that."
Nichols is due in court for an arraignment hearing on June 9.
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