Identifying the pipe bomber as a federal insider validates long-held doubts about the official narrative.
For nearly five years, the FBI had maintained a $500,000 reward for information on the hooded figure who planted two pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters on the evening of January 5, 2021.
On November 8, 2025, Capitol events took a dramatic twist when investigative journalist Steve Baker of Blaze Media revealed the identity of the long-sought pipe bomber as Shauni Rae Kerkhoff, a former U.S. Capitol Police officer. Kerkhoff, then 27 years old and serving in the Capitol Police’s Civil Disturbance Unit, was allegedly caught red-handed through cutting-edge forensic gait analysis software that matched her walking pattern, distinctive limp from soccer injury obtained in 2015 (broken tibia), 5’ 7” height, to the suspect’s with a staggering 94-98% probability.
The first time the public heard Shauni Kerkhoff’s name was during her 2022 sworn testimony in the trial of protester Guy Reffitt, a moment now pivotal in the pipe-bomber case. She admitted personally firing dozens of pepper-ball projectiles from the Upper West Terrace, known as the crow’s nest. Kerkhoff’s role in the Capitol Police was no average assignment, from 2018 to mid 2021, she was a certified training officer specializing in less-lethal munitions including pepper balls and impact projectiles used to control crowds.
Surveillance recordings from January 6 reveal Kerkhoff and fellow officers deployed these very same weapons against protesters on the Capitol’s West Plaza just moments after the initial breach. This positioning placed her at the epicenter of the chaos, raising immediate questions about whether her expertise in crowd dispersal played a much larger scheme to escalate the day’s events. Insiders in the probe, including ex-FBI agent Kyle Seraphin, reveal the Bureau stationed surveillance teams one door down from Shauni Kerkhoff’s Alexandria, Virginia, home just days after January 6 only to yank them off the case without a word, raising red flags of deliberate obstruction.
The bombs themselves were rudimentary, constructed from one hour kitchen timers, fireworks powder, and everyday materials, these devices were concealed in an alley near the DNC around 7:45 p.m. on January 5, with the second placed near the RNC about 30 minutes later. A hooded figure in Nike apparel and a backpack, matching Kerkhoff’s 5’7” athletic frame and slight limp was captured on surveillance departing the scenes on foot. The pipe bombs were discovered early that afternoon, the RNC device around 12:40 p.m. by a Capitol Hill resident, and the DNC device around 1:07 p.m. by U.S. Capitol Police officers as crowds from the Stop the Steal rally began approaching the Capitol, creating a diversion that most now describe as a calculated false flag to justify an authoritarian response.
What elevates this to full blown conspiracy is Kerkhoff’s swift post January 6 career trajectory, just six months after the riot, she left the Capitol Police for a high-level security role at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), where sources say she joined dignitary protection teams safeguarding top officials, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe, alleged by anonymous intelligence sources, but, CIA explicitly contradicted the dignitary protection detail in a post-publication statement. The CIA confirmed to Blaze News that Kerkhoff works in campus security, but her rapid promotion has fueled speculation of a reward for services rendered. After leaving the Capitol Police in mid 2021 to join the CIA, Kerkhoff reportedly deleted her social media profiles.
Investigators traced the pipe bomber’s Metro SmarTrip card used January 5 – 6, 2021 to an Air Force civilian who lived next door to Kerkhoff in Alexandria, VA. Though the FBI interviewed and cleared the neighbor, they never followed the lead to her, per sources. Former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin, now a whistleblower, revealed his team was surveilling that same address days after the protest, only to be abruptly pulled without explanation. He calls it part of a broader cover-up, including the FBI’s 2023 claim that key bomb-site video had become corrupted and unusable. The allegations align with congressional probes led by Reps. Jim Jordan and Barry Loudermilk, who have accused the Bureau of stonewalling the pipe bomb investigation while aggressively prosecuting over 1,400 January 6 defendants.
The pipe bombs were discovered at the perfect moment for anyone eager to brand January 6 as an insurrection. As the devices were neutralized by bomb squads, the Capitol breach unfolded around 12:53 p.m., lasting roughly 3 hours before clearance. Critics argue this duration was no accident but a scripted window allowing maximum disruption.
