Iced Earth’s Jon Schaffer faces extradition to Washington D.C. for role in Capitol riots

Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer is reportedly set to be extradited to Washington D.C. after his alleged participation in the US Capitol riots earlier this month.

Schaffer will be extradited to the capital from Edinburgh, Indiana, where he is currently being held in Marion County Jail.

He faces a series of charges in connection with the incident and must prove to a federal magistrate that he is not a threat to himself or the public before being released on bail.

Other rioters who face similar charges have been already granted bail, but ordered to surrender their firearms, avoid contact with other alleged rioters and stay away from all state capitol buildings.

In images captured during the January 6 riot, Schaffer was seen wearing a baseball cap with the slogan ‘Oath Keepers Lifetime Member’.

As Blabbermouth reports, the Anti-Defamation League describes the Oath Keepers as “a large but loosely organized collection of right-wing anti-government extremists who are part of the militia movement, which believes that the federal government has been coopted by a shadowy conspiracy that is trying to strip American citizens of their rights.”

Jon Schaffer
Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth in 2017. CREDIT: Juan Aguado/Redferns.

In the wake of Schaffer’s alleged involvement, the remaining members of Iced Earth released a statement via bassist Luke Appleton’s Instagram account denouncing the actions of the rioters.

“Some of you have been concerned by our silence, which we understand. We needed some time to properly process the information and find out some facts before we made a statement,” they wrote.

“We absolutely DO NOT condone nor do we support riots or the acts of violence that the rioters were involved in on January 6th at the US Capitol building. We hope that all those involved that day are brought to justice to be investigated and answer for their actions.”