A 42-year-old Indiana man who was pardoned by President Donald Trump last week —after entering the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021 — was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Sunday afternoon.
Matthew Huttle of Hobart, Indiana, allegedly resisted arrest and got into an “altercation” with a Jasper County Sheriff’s Department deputy, according to authorities, the Associated Press reported. Indiana State Police said that after Huttle was pulled over, “an altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect.”
Huttle was in possession of a firearm when he was pulled over, the state police said. Authorities did not say why Huttle was pulled over or what led to the confrontation. The officer who shot Huttle has been placed on leave as authorities investigate the fatal shooting.
Huttle’s attorney, Nick Barnes — who was representing the 42-year-old in multiple pending motor vehicle cases — said he did not know what led to the shooting, according to the AP. Huttle previously spent time behind bars for a driving offense.
In 2023, Huttle pled guilty to entering a restricted building after he was in the U.S. Capitol for 16 minutes on January 6, 2021. Defense attorney Andrew Hemmer said that Huttle was “not a true believer in any political cause,” but was only at the Trump rally that day “because he thought it would be a historic moment and he had nothing better to do after getting out of jail.”
Huttle, and his uncle, Dale Huttle, were two of the roughly 1,500 people who received pardons from Trump last week after being charged in the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Trump signed his executive order granting pardons to nearly all the defendants charged in relation to the Capitol breach just hours after taking office.
“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation,” the order states.
