Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt
The woman who was shot and killed inside the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday was from Ocean Beach, according to local media who have had contact with her extended family.
35-year-old Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt has been identified as the person who succumbed to a gunshot wound during the mob action. She had been carried out of the area on a stretcher and reportedly died at a hospital.
Babbitt was part of the violent pro-Trump insurrection and attempted take-over of the Capitol.
According to the Union-Tribune, a reporter spoke to a family member who said they saw videos of the incident and are positive the woman shot was Babbitt. “It’s her. It’s her. It’s definitely her,” the family member said. The family as of the local media reports had not been able to confirm anything with DC authorities. No one at the time of the report had contacted the family.
An Air Force veteran, Babbitt was a big Trump supporter, promoted QAnon conspiracies and her twitter page contained references to the fringe, extremist group. She had gone to DC to “stop the steal.” She wrote:
“Nothing will stop us….they can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours….dark to light!”. She had retweeted QAnon accounts and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
In one photo posted to social media, she wears a QAnon shirt. Another woman wrote, “Landing in DC. Here to do God’s work. Save the Republic. #StoptheSteal.” Babbitt responded to that tweet on January 4, 2021, by writing, “I will be there tomorrow! Gods speed!”
A video making its way around showed an encounter where a group of people are at the doors of the Speaker’s Lobby, a hallway leading to the House chamber. The top half of the doors are made of glass, and the doors appear to be barricaded on the inside with chairs and tables. A few people in the crowd beat the panes until they break.
The very first person who started to climb through a broken window was Babbett. There’s a gunshot – and she falls back to the floor. Others surround her and some shout for help.
Babbett and her husband own Fowler’s Pool Service & Supply, Inc. in Spring Valley. Her husband is listed as the company’s chief financial officer. Babbitt’s husband did not go to DC with her.
According to one report:
A man from New Jersey spoke to a journalist and said he was an eyewitness. He had a bloody hand. “We had stormed into the chambers inside, and there was a young lady who rushed through the windows. A number of police and Secret Service were saying get back, get down and get out of the way,” he said.
He continued, “She didn’t heed the call. As we kind of raced up to grab people and pull them back, they shot her in the neck. She fell back on me. She started to say she was fine, it’s cool. Then she started moving weird and blood was coming out of her neck and mouth and nose. I don’t know if she’s alive or dead anymore.”
The man said that “riot police came in and started ushering us out with their sticks and stuff.” Asked how they got in the Capitol, he said, “We tore through the scaffolding, through flashbangs and tear gas, and blitzed our way in through all of the chambers. Just trying to get into Congress and whoever we could get into and tell them we need some kind of investigation into this, and someone might be dead. That’s not the kind of government we can have.”
He said he wasn’t injured. “It could have been me. She went in first.”
This was a death that was needless. A tragedy for her family and friends. It’s also a death that we can place at the feet of Donald Trump, who urged his supporters this morning to march on the Capitol. And they did – and a mob temporarily took over the House of the people. Unfortunately, Babbitt was part of that mob.
{ 93 comments… read them below or add one }
Four died in the fiery storming of Congress on January 6th, 2020. It doesn’t matter where they came from; it matters that they all had families. Now, there’s an absence in those families. Now, a grieving process begins. Now, perhaps, they will question the past; they may question events
leading up to the point where their family member was in D.C. on a day of riotous behavior.
Without disparaging remarks, without callousness, we of OB ought to side with the family of
Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt while they grieve. We ought to offer support and a special day with a memorial to her. We ought to help a healing process begin.
Nah, call me radical but I don’t think we should have a special day and a memorial for a terrorist who died trying to overthrow a peaceful and lawful election. She got exactly what she deserved. She should fade away forgotten as another loser following a loser. Being dead doesn’t make her special, it just makes her dead.
Yeah, I agree. The Media needs to Stop publicizing these terrorists. They died for being idiots, adios.
No one should be supporting/memorializing domestic terrorists or their families who refer to them as “patriots”. Hopefully I am misinterpreting the statement relayed via KUSI from her husband.
“KUSI News has spoken with her husband…Her husband says she was a strong supporter of President Trump, and was a great patriot to all who knew her.”
https://www.kusi.com/kusi-news-confirms-identity-of-woman-shot-and-killed-inside-us-capitol/
“Nothing will stop us….they can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours….dark to light!”. She had retweeted QAnon accounts and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.”
Here to do God’s work. Save the Republic. #StoptheSteal.” Babbitt responded to that tweet on January 4, 2021, by writing, “I will be there tomorrow! Gods speed!”
Why do these hypocrites always claim God sent them……but, I see she got stopped.
Right on! Just because she was a seditious, MAGA racist supporting cult member who traveled all the way across the country to assault our duly elected representatives (both Democrat AND Republican) shouldn’t stop us from giving her just as much sympathy as someone who gets hit by a car.
Good people do NOT celebrate traitors. She is no better than those that traveled to Syria to support ISIS.
Are you nuts?! A special day of memorial? What would you have suggested if she had just been arrested and prosecuted instead of shot?
Well…for the first time in a long time I agree 100% with you, Geoff. A memorial? for a thug that broke into the White House Grounds? For someone that was filled with hate; for someone that was a member of QAnon? I have no sympathy for her. She got what she deserved.
Yes, we agree, Judi. I don’t wish death on anyone and I’m sure you don’t either. But, she deserved whatever was coming her way. There were only two possible outcomes, what actually happened, or arrest and prosecution. Because of her actions, she suffered the outcome she did. No one else is to blame other than the criminal LOSER.
She wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the inside of the White House because, well, the Coward In Chief lives THERE.
She was breaking in to the Capitol building, Judi.
Sorry, a memorial won’t get any support from the OB Rag.
Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt was a traitor and a terrorist. We should celebrate the hero who took her down.
The FBI should be tearing apart Fowler’s Pool Service & Supply as a potential maga terrorist cell.
I’m honestly surprised to see this viewpoint coming from you of all people. She represents everything you staunchly disagree with (based on other posts I’ve seen from you). I know you’re not a big fan of the military, even down to the rank and file members and yet she’s a 14 year veteran to took part in a right wing coup to overthrow the election.
Chris, whom is your comment directed to?
UnwashedWalmartThong.
Domestic terrorism. Memorial… Not. Thoughts & prayers are always the answer…Right?!?
At the memorial do you plan on singing the Horst Wiesel song?
Great reporting, Frank. This was a true insurrection, military vets breaking every oath to threaten our fundamental Constitutional democracy. I remember when I first found out that the Christian Nationalists of the New Apostolic Reformation had infiltrated the U.S. Air Force Academy in an attempt to take control of the U.S. Arsenal of I.C.B.M.s and Nuke Bombs. I wondered if the old Cold War guard would stop them, guess they just sent them to be someone else’s problem.
Thank you for shedding a little light on this. I am very sad that she was from OB. I mourn for her family and friends. I do believe that if she was actually attempting to break into the chambers, then the person who shot her was doing the job he or she was sworn to do.
Capitol Police.
Now I see Trump as completely mentally ill. He must go now. Impeach Trump now. Yes now.
Hurry!!!! Impeach !!
Now you see it? What rock have you been living under for the past four years?
Some people make bad choices that have bad consequences.
It’s a very twisted irony that a military vet breaks into the Capitol in an attempt to attempt to overthrow the Presidential election.
Don’t Think about Trump but the one who killed this woman.
We must celebrate the hero who took out Ashli the terrorist.
As hard as it is for some people to believe, not everyone who carries a gun for their job wants to use it. The person who used theirs was not a hero, they were doing their job. And, they may be the kind of person who will be haunted forever by the fact that they had to take a life. Killing someone who is trying to murder or maim another person might be easier to handle, but I have to think even this would weigh heavily on anyone. Killing someone under these circumstances could be awful to live with, even though justified.
The patriot that killed this domestic terrorist should be given a medal. That woman was trying to take down the government of The United States.
Also ironic she lived in OB.
OB certainly has a liberal slant, but we have all sorts here. That’s what makes it such a vibrant community. I know a number of Trump supporters here that know better than to admit it because of the strong cancel culture here. People should realize there are some legitimate policy reasons that drive people to vote for Trump, often in spite of his rhetoric.
No matter WHAT your theory of what America should be, showing support for Trump is to condone racism and dishonesty (add: sedition) in our politics. For those that hold their nose and vote for such scum I have absolutely no sympathy.
Legitimate policy reasons? Balderdash!
Yup, from the KKK to the Posse Comitatus, OB has had its share of racists. (I don’t think the SAO, the Secret Army Org. qualifies as an OB group, even though they fired bullets into an OB house filled with activists in the early 1970s.) But also from the anti-racist platform of the OB Community Planning Group in 1976 to the BLM solidarity demonstration on the beach in OB last year, there has been a push-back against OB racism and racists at least since the 1970s.
See this: https://obrag.org/2017/08/ob-versus-the-klan-and-other-white-supremacists/
“Posse Comitatus” is a racist group? I thought it was 18 U.S.C. § 1385 that keeps active duty troops from police actions inside the USA.
Did some scumbags appropriate the term?
Yes, back in the 60s and 70s primarily; their core belief was that the white elected sheriff was the only legitimate government. They had some prominent members of the OB community, who wore silver noses around their necks.
Almost got me there, Frank. I was believing your story until you went too far with the nose necklaces. That’s just TOO much!
Oh, wait . . . autocorrect
Whoops! I meant nooses – geez! where’s the proffreader (jk – proofreader).
She was involved in what had all the appearances of a coup making her a traitor. I grew up a mile away from the Naval Training Center and MCRD here during the Viet Nam War. I met many, many good Americans who signed up with good intentions and were willing to risk their lives for the USA. I also met more than a few who were nothing more than criminals and rednecks in a military uniform. Not all Veterans are worthy of praise including this one who bought the thousands of lies from Donald Trump and the unfounded claims of Q anon. She died for a pack of easily disproven lies. Everyone is born with a brain. Not everyone chooses to use theirs. It’s very sad for her family but the only person to blame for their pain is Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt.
Can we also blame Donald Trump?
She crossed state lines to participate in an attempted overthrow of the government. She was a terrorist. She made the choice to go, no one forced her. No matter how the right-wing news services try to spin it or attempt to gain symphony for her because she was from OB, she was a terrorist, and she got what she deserved. My only regret is that more of them didn’t.
And let us not forget that she is associated with and a supporter of Qanon, a totally crackpot web of conspiracies that a rational person would recognize in an instant are just plain crazy.
I’m ashamed to think that there are QAnon followers in OB!
We should have a protest to show that her kind are not welcome in OB. If we don’t do anything, we’re just letting people like her get comfortable.
Have you seen the video of Ashli screaming about homeless people? These conservatives are cruel to our un-housed right in front of us yet what do we do? It’s up to us to stop them.
Laura, definitely let the OB Rag know about any plans for this.
How could such a vibrant, 35-year old, who lived in peaceful, hippie-loving OB, after 14 years in the Air Force and a business owner, believe in such shit? She flew to DC specifically to follow Trump’s call for an insurrection, a “riot,” and was on the front lines of the attempted coup. Coup attempts in this country are seditious and treasonous and the white nationalists and others who participated in this attempt are traitors.
Trump didn’t MAKE any new racists. They were always there; he just gave them cover to come out from their holes.
We have a LOT of work to do come the 20th.
My question is what prompted her to move to OB? She was born in Lakeside so she’s lived in the SD area most of her life (minus the times she was overseas with the AF). It’s kind of like a homophobic Christian fundamentalist who’s lived in the city of SD their whole life and decides to move to Hillcrest.
Got the answer to your plaintive question, Frank. The couple only moved to OB three years ago (per KSWB), so they brought the infection WITH them. Then they got butt hurt about sharing the streets with the homeless, and it just festered like an infected hangnail.
Peter – thanks. I did hear about – but have not seen – some vid of her screaming at houseless people.
Thank you, Peter. I wondered how long she had lived in OB and why. I was relieved to find out that she grew up in Lakeside and was not homegrown in OB. In the 48 years that I’ve lived here, there has always been a tolerance for diversity that really stretched the limits compared to the stale uniformity of many neighborhoods. I fondly recall the bikers bringing up the rear of our Winter Holiday parades, and I was so proud of our AntiTrump demonstration with the stunning aerial views. For the last year or so, I have been very concerned about the attempts to “Clean Up OB” that seemed to be code for — harass our homeless neighbors. We have been, mostly, a model of acceptance of different life styles and opinions. I hope we will continue.
It’s always a shame when people die, but Babbitt tried to overthrow the United States government. She was guilty of sedition and insurrection.
Babbitt will be remembered by history as a traitor to the United States of America. I have absolutely no sympathy.
Actions have consequences. There are videos of this lady screaming into a camera while she’s driving. She may already have been well off the deep end.
WOW! I found one of those videos on line not sure if this is one you reference Vern
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ashli-babbitt-killed-capitol-criticized-131359704.html
Yes, that’s one of the videos she “starred” in.
Shame she let love of Trump supercede love of country and constitution. No military honors at funerals for traitors.
All the lies and conspiracy theories have a human cost. What a terrible price to pay. R.I.P.
What consequences for those who incited the actions that led to this needless death?
Where do you begin when you try to educate the 70 million who voted for Trump?
I’d rather not live where there exists no compassion. I won’t attempt to simplify or reduce a person’s life. We have a complex fabric of mores, traditions & religions in the United States. A myriad of events led up to her decision to storm the Capital Building. Understand the human actions & their derivation, & you may understand the person. I’m reserving compassion for her & her family. I may have callouses under my callouses, but under those there may be a heart.
Having sympathy for her is one thing (which to be honest I struggle to have) but a memorial for her is a stretch.
Her family continues to support her actions. I believe there was also an interview run with her mother who joined in with her husband and grandfather defending her actions as a patriot.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/rioter-fatally-shot-capitol-police-remembered-grandfather-excellent/story?id=75118328
Unfortunately a bunch of the wire services have picked up on KUSI reports and those interviews are being spread around the Nation. The news outlet is just about unwatchable now with five-minute whacko-appealing videos purporting to be coverage.
I find it ironic that here in SD the FOX affiliate is just about the best of the locals for accuracy and balance’
KUSI has always been oriented to the East County redneck, but lately it’s just TrumpTV.
Yeah, you’re right there, Peter. For a long time KUSI provided fairly good local coverage if it was non-political. But. If you go on KUSI’s website, you’ll find some crazy right-wing extremist bullshit.
If there is any memorial, it needs to be for U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died Thursday night after suffering injuries in the violent siege at the Capitol.
A group of the ‘peaceful protesters’ beat him with a fire extinguisher.
Totally agree. He was protecting OUR government against some anarchist traitors.
The Feds and the state police should be tearing that pool business apart, and confiscating everything.
Is that the npool business called “Fowler’s Pool Service & Supply”?
Yeah, I’m not going to weep for her. Especially now that she’s a ‘martyr’ to their hideous cause:
“After the Capitol attack, members of that movement began promoting the January 17 rallies again, this time using the hashtagged name of a woman who was fatally shot by police while invading the Capitol.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-far-right-is-already-scheming-for-a-post-riot-sequel
And it keeps getting worse, https://mobile.twitter.com/intelcrab/status/1347639637725077505
Not looking for a dichotomy between memorial for fallen officer in D.C. or a deceased person from OB.
We use the term “drinking the Kool Aid” to simplify a gradual transition from sane to nutso, do we not? Trumpistas drank the Kool Aid, millions of them.
Perhaps we need a Scoville ranking when referring to people with opinions unaligned with our
own. I suggest Uncle Tonoose from Make Room for Daddy on one end and Pol Pot on the other.
Historically speaking Kool-aid was Kesey, Jonestown was”flavor-aid” , these guys all “sniffed the glue”
Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt is a traitor. She should not be buried at any of the National Cemeteries. Wednesday, 1/6/2021, was a day that will long be known for trump and his army of whack jobs who failed in their attempted coup d etat.
She was breaking and entering. If she did that at my house I would shoot her too. What did they expect when they start breaking windows. That in anybody’s mind is a crime. Public property or not I bet if I go breaking windows at City hall and I don’t stop when I am told to I would get shot too. Sory she got killed but to the cop it was looking a lot like war.
The New York Times called OB a “working class community” to identify where Elizabeth Babbitt lived in California. A strange designation, must be a New York thing.
It IS a NYC thing. Anything with less than Manhattan-like density is “rural”.
While there is no way anyone in NYC could possible know what kind of community OB San Diego is, in all fairness it IS an even mixture of blue and white collar.
Nooo- seriously?! Hahaha, there are lots of adjectives I might use to describe the wonderful district of OB, but I don’t think ‘working class community” would head the list!!
Sure, OB is a working class community. Any neighborhood where 6 out of every 7 residents has to rent is part of the working stiff crowd. If you have to go to work and sell your time and energy to or for somebody else, you’re part of the working class. If you can sit home and collect those fees from all your short-term rentals, then no, you’re not.
Now, of course, the concept of the “working class” has been stretched these past few centuries from the classical definition, but that’s what’s been happening.
Perhaps the new census will force us to adjust those figures, but until then ….
Interesting article about her journey… lots of good video links as well.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/01/08/the-journey-of-ashli-babbitt/
Some of the hate that I have heard expressed here bewilders me. Its as if people believe that one group will say “oh you’re right, were all a bunch of dumbshits.” “Go ahead and lord over us, take our stuff and give it to some else, and if you burn me down I deserve it”. It’s not going to happen. Or are you saying “let’s go. Bring it?” thinking that would be a good thing. The problem isn’t one group or another; it is group think. The enemy isn’t one group or another, its the hatred that could and does exist in either/both groups. Let me coin this “the only thing we have to hate is hate itself.” To imagine a group of ex-hippies are glad, celebrating a young woman getting shot because she was pissed off about politics… where have you fallen from? Peace Love Joy becomes “they should have killed more of them.”? If this is OB today, then OB is gone never to return. LOOK IN THE MIRROR! You have flaws too. You complain often about the way it is, but you claim everyone else is to blame. In the words of Larry Norman, If you don’t like air pollution, cover your mouth when you cough it will help the solution. Ghandi said to be the change. Why are you being the ass?
I didn’t see any posts here saying they were glad she died, but the fact is she was part of something horrible. For that reason I don’t think she deserves a memorial. Others suffer because of people like her. That’s just a fact. Does that mean people should celebrate her fate? I go with no, but I understand the reasoning why others may think so. She seemed like the kind of person who probably took pleasure in seeing people who marched for racial and gender equality being clubbed over the head and bloodied. The interesting thing is, she voted voted for Obama but somehow Trump got to her.
And it’s funny when you say the OB of today. Imagine it’s 1970. Imagine returning Vietnam solider who admitted to taking part in knowingly killing civilians, or even just someone who supported those actions. I don’t think they would have fit in too well at the time but would probably be more accepted now due to the forgiveness that happens over time.
MIC DEE should look in the mirror. No group of hippies is celebrating anyone’s death here, and nobody said “they should have killed more of them.” This is typical of Trump supporters – make up a bunch of lies because that’s all you have. Clearly the group that attacked the capital was in the wrong, and they should be prosecuted and punished. The unfortunate deaths were a tragedy, and they were caused by the mob’s lawless behavior and by Trump’s encitement.
Self reflection is a long established procedure in my world. Again, I ask you to look in the mirror. You didn’t like that I said hatred and group think are the problem so you branded me a “Trump supporter.” You accused me of “a bunch of lies” and attacked that its “all I have.”
You are wrong on all counts. Soon you will be calling me a racist and then a white supremist, and yet all I said is take a look. I never disagreed that wrong is wrong, but I hold life precious and people precious, even those who disagree with me. It seems we have gone so far that you don’t even wait to know that they agree with you before the attack. Ego centrism is the root of racism Jim Jones. I hope no one drinks your Koolaide.
Well, if you read Jim Jones’ post, and then yours, it is apparent that he knows how to put a sentence together whereas you are just assembling distracting word salad.
And learn to spell Kool-Aid if you are going to use it (or at LEAST read the other comments before you jump in, as this was discussed a day ago).
Personally, my prayers are going up to God to please let them find a video/photo of the thug/rioter/insurrectionist who hit the Capitol Policeman in the head with an iron, cylinder fire extinguisher causing his death. Could it be someone who marched against BLM, screaming “Blue Lives Matter?”
https://v.redd.it/0tey3h48hha61
For those who are hesitant to blindly click on a random REDDIT URL allow me:
They have video of the incident and are tracking down the suspect(s).
Bobbitt was not an obeachan. She moved to ob three years ago from lakeside. She’s been known to harasss homeless people at the wall
Well, while we’re on the subject of the U. S of A., what do you think of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s speech on YouTube?
I first spotted it on The Guardian’s website.
And there’s a very good article regarding The OrangeFace Troll on Der Spiegel International by Max Hoppenstedt, et al titled The Dimming Light of Democracy : Trump’s Army and the Attack on America.
Gotta get in here. Trump, at the very least, facilitated the death of Ashli Babbit. She made her own choices and died because of them. Rather than celebrate or demonize her I can only regret that her thoughts led her down a fools path and to a foolish death. I think we’d be well served to just work toward interactions which enhance the humanity of all we encounter, if that’s possible. The better we understand each other, the easier it will be to make the changes which will make America, our place, a better one for all.
Don’t know whether there’s a way to put these together, but in learning the English language it is said that to improve any of the four basic skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) elevates them all. What if we were better people? Is that possible? To push is to invite push-back.
BTW let’s not waste any more time on the loser. Other projects deserve our focus and energy.
Very reasonable commentary, jmw. One part I do not agree with is “let’s not waste any more time on the loser.” Going after him with both barrels is essential. First, he needs to be ineligible to ever run for even dog-catcher. Second, the other little orangeheads watching this need to see there are real consequences so they don’t try the same things. And, most importantly, people died because of this man. Spend – not waste – time is exactly what we need to do.
If he is convicted they need to strip him of all his after-serving perks, like $200k a year, SS protection, transportation allowance . . . ALL of it. You should not have retirement benefits from a job that you DID NOT DO.