Preliminary Report: Insufficient Evidence to Charge Capitol Police Officer Who Shot Babbitt During Insurrection

A preliminary investigation into the shooting death of OB resident, Ashli Babbitt, during the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol has found insufficient evidence to criminally charge the U.S. Capitol Police lieutenant who fatally shot her. Babbitt, a pro-Trump insurrectionist and Qanon supporter, was shot as she tried to enter the Speaker’s Lobby via a broken window taken out by her and her fellow rioters. Video captured the moment.

Minutes earlier Babbitt and others were hammering the doors between them and the House chamber while lawmakers were being evacuated. Apparently, the unidentified lieutenant was alone to confront the mob as they were breaking into the chamber.

However, the preliminary report is just that – it’s preliminary. The routine investigation into the death by Washington DC’s police force, the Metropolitan Police Department, has not been completed, which means no recommendation had been made to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, which would prosecute the officer. According to the news report:

Civil rights prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office opened a formal, federal excessive force investigation into Babbitt’s death in the days after the Capitol riot, a “routine, standard procedure whenever an officer deploys lethal force,” a Justice Department spokesperson said when the investigation was announced.

Lethal force is deemed legally justified if an officer has an “objectively reasonable” fear of serious harm to themselves or others. Two people familiar with the lieutenant’s account suggested that he would argue that he had acted to protect lawmakers from harm. Five people died during the assault on the Capitol and in the immediate aftermath.

Babbitt’s most famous quote was on twitter the day before the attempted insurrection. She said:

“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!”

Her quote echoes the dangerous insanity of Qanon supporters. Despite the extreme far-right trying to make Babbitt into a martyr, she has received no such adulation back in her home town of Ocean Beach – or the general San Diego area. In fact, comments on social media – including the OB Rag – by residents display a schism-wide disdain for her and her politics.

Here’s a link the New York Times article by Katie Benner.