WASHINGTON – A preliminary investigation has found not enough evidence to convince U.S. Capitol Police lieutenant who killed Ashli Babbitt, a pro-Trump rioter who stormed the Capitol last month, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.
But officials warned Monday that the investigation by the city’s police force, the Metropolitan Police Department, was not complete and that no recommendation had been made to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington to prosecute the officer.
Me. Babbitt, 35, took part in one of a handful of crowd attacks that nearly reached members of Congress during the hour-long siege of the Capitol on January 6. She and fellow rioters knocked on the doors separating them from the living room when lawmakers were evacuated. .
While Mrs. Babbitt tried to jump through a broken window and enter the speaker’s foyer, the Capitol police lieutenant shot her dead. Although officials do not have a full report from Ms. Babbitt’s fateful encounter did not materialize, it was captured on video and widely shared on social media.
But footage, combined with testimony reports, shows that the lieutenant, who has not yet been named, was left alone to confront a crowd. The lieutenant was on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation into the shooting and was questioned by investigators last week.
The preliminary findings were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.
Dustin Sternbeck, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department, said it would be “premature” for the department to comment that any conclusion has been reached. “The Department of Justice and the Capitol Police said their agencies were not commenting on active investigations.
Prosecutors of civil rights in the U.S. Attorney’s Office have launched a formal, federal excessive investigation into the death of Ms. Babbitt in the days following the riot in the Capitol, a ‘normal procedure when an officer deploys lethal force’, a Justice Department spokesman said when the investigation was announced.
Lethal violence is considered legitimate if an officer has an “objectively reasonable” fear of serious harm to themselves or others. Two people familiar with the lieutenant’s report suggested he would argue that he acted to harm lawmakers. Five people were killed during the assault on the Capitol and in the immediate aftermath.
In death, Ms. Babbitt has become a martyr-like figure for extremist right-wing extremist groups that have long supported former President Donald J. Trump, many of whom came to the Capitol to prevent the official certification of President Biden’s election college victory, including white nationalists and militia members. She could continue to serve as a rally for Trump’s supporters if the official is not charged.
Me. Babbitt, who served more than a dozen years in the Air Force and the Air Force Guard, was seen on video in the moments before her death, wearing a Trump flag like a hood.
Her social media accounts were filled with messages of support for Mr. Trump, as well as QAnon conspiracy theories.
“Nothing will stop us,” she said on Twitter the day before she and Trump supporters attacked Congress. ‘They can try and try, but the storm is here and it falls on DC within 24 hours … dark to light! ”
Adam Goldman contribution made.