The Department of Justice will not file charges against the Capitol police officer who shot dead an Air Force veteran as she entered through a doorway in the American Capitol on January 6th. Ashli Babbitt was killed when rioters broke into the Capitol while lawmakers confirmed within the election college results confirming Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
In an investigation, insufficient evidence was found to support criminal prosecution and it was established that the officer could reasonably believe that it was necessary to shoot Babbitt out of his own defense or in defense of those evacuating the House.
Babbitt, a 35-year-old from Ocean Beach, California, was part of a mob trying to break through that led to the Speaker’s Lobby, an area near the U.S. House of Representatives, where the Capitol police evacuated members. from the Living Room.
Several videos posted on social media depicted the tense scene where Babbitt was shot, while a mob used flagpoles, helmets and their own hands to slam through the doors, prompting Capitol police to crowd to reach the evacuating housemates.
In the video, Babbitt can be seen climbing through the doorway when a shot sounds. According to the Department of Justice, a Capitol police officer fired one round of his service pistol and hit Babbitt in the left shoulder.
Videos show the officer, wearing a suit and surgical mask, firing in Babbitt’s direction as she falls backwards, out the door.
She was assisted by an emergency response team from the Capitol police and was taken to the hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries, the justice department said.
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The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Corruption and Civil Rights in the District of Columbia and the Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with the Home Affairs Division of the Metropolitan Police, conducted the investigation through video recordings, statements of the officer and other officers and witnesses. to investigate. physical evidence from the scene of the shooting and autopsy results.
The officer who shot Babbitt has not been identified.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Justice acknowledge the tragic loss of life and condolences to Ms. Babbitt’s family. Therefore, they have closed the investigation into this case,” the Department of Justice said.
Babbitt has served in the Army for more than a decade, including active service in the Air Force and years in the Air Force Reserve and the National Air Force.
Her uncle, Anthony Mazziott Jr., said she was a Trump supporter and a military police officer who deployed to Afghanistan several times. “She loved people, loved her friends and loved her country,” Anthony Mazziott Jr. said. told the CBS subsidiary KFMB.
The station reported that she left the army last year and ran a pool service business with her husband, and her presence on social media indicated that she digest far-right misinformation.
Babbitt was one of five people killed during the attack on the American Capitol. The DC medical officer of the chief medical examiner said last week that two men during the riot, 55-year-old Kevin Greeson and 50-year-old Benjamin Phillips, died of complications due to hypertensive heart disease, and a 34-year-old woman, Roseanne Boyland, died of acute amphetamine poisoning.
The medical examiner has not yet revealed the cause of death to officer Brian Sicknick, who died after responding to the riots on January 6. arrested because he allegedly assaulted Sicknick with a chemical spray.