Jan. 6 rioter charged with murder in Illinois crash

By CLAIRE SAVAGE
Associated Press/Report for America

CHICAGO (AP) — A central Illinois man who pleaded guilty to felony charges for his role in the January 6 insurrection was charged with first-degree murder Wednesday after a woman was killed in a wrong-way car collision on November 8, county officials said. Shane Jason Woods crashed a pick-up truck into three vehicles while driving northbound in the southbound lanes on Interstate 55 in Springfield, Illinois. 35-year-old Lauren Wegner of Clayton, North Carolina died from multiple blunt force injuries she sustained in the wreck, according to the county coroner. Woods, 44, pleaded guilty in September to felony charges for assaulting a law enforcement officer and a member of the news media during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol building, federal prosecutors said.