Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt’s family sues for records on officer who fatally shot her

Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran, was one of hundreds of former President Donald Trump’s supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. The invasion derailed the confirmation of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory and forced a joint session of Congress into hiding.

The break-in followed Trump insisting at a nearby rally that his followers should march to the Capitol and pressure Republicans not to accept the results of the election. The invasion resulted in five deaths.

MPD’s Internal Affairs Division, along with two civil rights offices within the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the D.C., “conducted a thorough investigation” into Babbitt’s shooting, the Justice Department said in an April 14 press release.

Those teams sifted through video footage on social media, the autopsy results and statements from the officer who fired the gun and others on the scene, the DOJ said.

“Based on that investigation, officials determined that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution,” the DOJ said.

“The investigation revealed no evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer willfully committed a violation” of a federal criminal civil rights statute, the press release said.

Babbitt and a group of rioters gained access to a hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby, which leads to the House chamber.

She tried to climb head first through the broken glass window of a door separating the hallway from the lobby, which had been barricaded from the inside with furniture. Other members of the crowd had broken out chunks of glass on the doors while pounding on them “with their hands, flagpoles, helmets, and other objects,” the DOJ’s press release said.

An officer inside the lobby who had drawn his service pistol shot Babbitt once in the left shoulder, causing her to fall backward onto the floor. She was tended to by a USCP emergency response team before being transported to Washington Hospital Center, where she died, the DOJ said.

On the far right, Babbitt is now being cast as a martyr. A crowdfunding page for Babbitt’s “official memorial” has raised more than $90,000 since it was created, purportedly by her sister in law, three days after the invasion.

A pro-Babbitt group held a rally in California state capitol over the weekend, reportedly clashing with another group that had gathered to memorialize Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by police in her Louisville apartment in March 2020.

An initial scheduling conference in the FOIA lawsuit is set for Sept. 3 at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Florence Pan.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/08/capitol-rioter-ashli-babbitts-family-sues-for-records-on-officer-who-fatally-shot-her.html