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A Greenville man received a federal firearm charge after allegedly shooting in the direction of law enforcement days before he was expected to surrender himself for charges related to the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021, according to court records.
Nathan Donald Pelham, 40, was charged this week with possessing a firearm as a felon. Pelham was charged April 11 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia with four misdemeanor counts: entering a restricted building or grounds; disorderly or disruptive conduct in that area; disorderly conduct on capitol grounds; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building.
Federal authorities detained and interviewed Pelham in March 2021 after he was denied entry to Canada, and he admitted to authorities that he was at the U.S. Capitol on the day of the insurrection, according to court records. An attorney representing Pelham for the firearms charge did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Authorities also had executed a search warrant with Google and a search warrant for Pelham’s cell phone to track his location and actions at the Capitol.
On April 12, an FBI agent called Pelham and told him about the charges and that he needed to surrender himself April 17. Pelham agreed, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
That evening, a Hunt County sheriff’s deputy was sent to Pelham’s home for a welfare check and his daughter exited the home. Then, gunshots were heard from the home and Pelham allegedly fired toward authorities, who were not injured, the attorney’s office said.
County authorities left the home several hours later without making an arrest. Two days later, FBI agents searched Pelham’s home and found a purse with a pistol inside, boxes of ammunition and gunshot holes in the walls, according to the complaint.
Pelham faces up to 15 years in federal prison on the gun charge and three years on the charges related to the 2021 U.S. Capitol breach. He is one of more than two dozen North Texas defendants charged in relation to the Jan. 6 insurrection.