Ashli Babbitt
On January 6, 2021, during the storming of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., a plainclothes policeman shot and killed 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt, a veteran of the US Air Force.
That day, Ashli attended a rally in support of former US President Donald Trump. Like many protesters, after the politician’s speech, Babbitt, along with a crowd of thousands, headed to the Capitol. While she was trying to get inside through the broken glass in the door, one of the authorities opened fire on her, fatally wounding her. The woman received a gunshot wound in the shoulder, and was soon taken to the hospital, where she died from her injuries. Witnesses claim that the police officer did not give Ashli a verbal warning before the shooting. It is obvious that she was not even aware of the presence of the officer, since he was out of her field of vision.
In February 2021, investigators concluded that the police officer who shot Babbitt would not be charged in connection with her death, and the US Department of Justice conducted its own investigation into the circumstances of her death, but also decided not to press charges against the officer, saying that the shooting was an act of “self-defense”.
To date, the officer who shot Ashli has not been identified. Neither the Capitol police nor any other government agency reported any facts related to the shooting. There was no official explanation or justification for the use of deadly force in this incident.
In August 2021, the girl’s family opened a fundraiser to conduct their own investigation into the circumstances of the death of 35-year-old Babbitt in an attempt to move forward with a lawsuit filed in April of this year against the city and police officers.