Kicking off the first hearing of the House Select Committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot, Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, promised to fully investigate "the facts of what happened on Jan. 6,” calling it “a scene of violence in the citadel of democracy.”
But over the next 3½ hours, he and other Democrats, along with their handpicked Republican panelists and police witnesses, never mentioned the most lethal act committed that day — the fatal Capitol Police shooting of unarmed protester Ashli Babbitt. It was the only shot fired during the entire riot.
This omission angered Babbitt’s family and a number of Republicans who maintain that the Select Committee and the Capitol Police are covering up the circumstances surrounding her death. Questions linger over the shooting, especially whether the officer who fired the fatal shot warned Babbitt to stop before he opened fire as she attempted to breach a barricaded door inside the Capitol Building.
The officer’s lawyer insists his client not only issued such a command, but did so loudly and clearly. However, in an interview with RealClearInvestigations, Babbitt family attorney Terry Roberts said he has gathered evidence indicating the officer, a plainclothes police lieutenant, remained silent. Far from warning Babbitt he would shoot, Roberts said the officer “ambushed” her from the side where she could not see he had taken up position in a hall doorway and had trained his weapon on her.
“It’s not debatable,” said Roberts. “There was no warning.”
A Maryland personal-injury lawyer who specializes in police misconduct cases, Roberts has won several million dollars for victims of police brutality. He said he is preparing to file a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Capitol Police and the officer, seeking more than $10 million in damages.
Babbitt, 35, was fatally wounded as she attempted to climb through the broken window above a door leading to the House chamber, where lawmakers were being evacuated. Standing to the side of a pile of furniture blocking the doors and out of Babbitt’s view, the officer took aim with his Glock service pistol, striking her in the left shoulder. Babbitt fell back from the doorway to the floor. She was transported to Washington Hospital Center, where she died from injuries sustained from the .40-caliber bullet wound.
More than six months after the shooting, the U.S. Capitol Police still refuse to release the name of the officer. But several sources have identified him as Lt. Michael L. Byrd, a 53-year-old veteran of the force who was serving as commander of the House Chamber Section of the Capitol Police on Jan. 6. He has not returned to duty and remains on paid administrative leave. Attempts to reach Byrd were unsuccessful.
Though Byrd appears to have been cleared of criminal wrongdoing, he may still be subject to civil action. If Babbitt was not given an opportunity to obey commands before she was shot, it could figure prominently in the family’s planned wrongful-death suit against the officer. Roberts said he has interviewed several witnesses who were standing outside the Speaker’s Lobby with Babbitt, and that they'll testify they did not hear the officer issue "any kind of warning."
He also said video recordings his investigators have analyzed reveal that other police who were in the hallway with the officer did not react as expected before he fired. He said they seemed to be caught unaware as he opened fire. Roberts said he has lined up expert witnesses, including ex-cops and use-of-force experts, who will testify that the officers behind him in the Speaker’s Lobby would have taken cover or crouched and pulled their own weapons if they heard the lieutenant give repeated warnings he was going to shoot. Instead, Roberts said, they appeared to be casually standing or walking around in the lobby in the seconds leading up to the shooting.
Replies
The Capital riot.
The whole thing was orchestrated by the Democrats, social media, Antifa and BLM, who btw were the first ones that entered the Capital and all five death were on the “protesters” side, NOT ON THE LEFT! The only weapon used was by a Capital security guard who shot an unarmed woman. Why wasn’t the guard arrested or at least named and investigated?
As for the unnecessary death of the young lady, Ashli Babbit, a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a great patriot, she was shot by a overzealous Capital police guard, Michael L. Byrd, who shot her through a window. In the past, this same idiot left his service revolver in a restroom, AND NEVER REPORTED IT! There were two death by natural causes and one female that was trampled to death by the crowd, probably due to the gunshot ( these death were NOT inside the Capital).
The true death of officer Sicknick is still not know by the public but was NOT due to being hit with a Fire extinguisher by a Domestic terrorist as ALL the liberal left stated. They were forced to retract the statement but not until after his nationally televised funeral. Good God, nobody can tell the difference between massive head trauma and poisoning or bother to find the truth before putting it out on the national media?? I guess the truth didn’t fit the agenda. Worthless news rag and should be shut down. His brother said he was pepper sprayed twice (bear spray), was fine but later died about 24 hrs later, suspicious?
Many of the so-called Democratic “survivors” weren’t even in the Capital including AOC who was more then 300 yds from it at the time but suffered from “mental trauma”! I’m thinking she had that before 1-6.
The Democrats own this.
Victory1