Four months after the Capitol riots, one verdict is in: there was only one homicide that day. That of an unarmed protester Ashli Babbitt at the hands of a U.S. Capitol Hill police officer. Prosecutors announced they will not charge the as-yet unidentified officer, an African-American lieutenant on the force. But that’s not the end of the story. Today, we hear both sides in one of the most shrouded police shootings of our time. A caution, some viewers may find some of the material disturbing.
On October 10, 2020, Ashli Babbitt celebrated her 35th birthday.
Three months later, she set off for Washington D.C. and joined an estimated tens of thousands of like-minded Trump supporters at a rally protesting what they see as a “stolen election.”
Not long after a photo of Ashli Babbit draped in a pro-Trump campaign cape was taken, she marched to the U.S. Capitol where Congress was certifying the 2020 election results.
There, unarmed and still wearing the cape, Babbitt started to climb through a broken window and was shot dead by a plainclothes Capitol Police lieutenant.
Terrell Roberts: She’s not brandishing a weapon, so he’s shooting an unarmed individual who is not assaulting him or threatening him.
Attorney Terry Roberts represents Babbitt’s husband, Aaron.
Sharyl: A prevailing sentiment that I’ve read is, these were insurrectionists who were going to threaten people’s lives and they deserved, or she deserved what she got.
Terrell Roberts: So for someone to say, “Well, she got what she deserved.” without understanding what the law is, is not an informed decision, I would say. If this case happened out in Minneapolis or some other place, and it wasn’t politically charged, I think that most people would see this as an obvious case of excessive force.
Ironically, the clearest video of the shooting was recorded by John Sullivan, an activist who spoke at a Black Lives Matter rally in Washington DC last August, where he encouraged an insurgency against President Trump.
Months after that speech, Sullivan says he masqueraded as a Trump supporter at the January rally, and recorded the chaos inside the Capitol.
Terrell Roberts: We have that video. Ashli Babbitt is a part of that crowd. Then you can see some individuals, they do get physical. They start to hit the door, break some of the windows. There are three officers present at that point. And they move out of the way.
Sharyl: Would part of your case be figuring out why the police officers on Ashli Babbitt’s side of the door and the SWAT team did not move to keep the crowd from climbing through or trying to enter?
Terrell Roberts: You’re right. That’s exactly what we’re going to try to find out, why that was. We’ll find out. But it’s clear that’s what they’re doing, they’re actually abandoning the door, and it’s an interesting fact of the case. And at that point, one of the side windows to the door is knocked out. SWAT officers come up the steps. It’s at this point that Ashli gets up onto the ledge and she is shot before she even steps off the ledge. At the time that this officer shoots, there’s no member of Congress in that lobby. So I think all this adds up to a situation where the officer did not need to shoot and kill the lady.
The attorney for the Capitol Police officer declined our interview requests. I spoke with Jason Johnson, a former Baltimore Deputy Police Commissioner who heads up the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund.
Sharyl: Let’s talk about what might have been in the mind of the officer. What are you seeing and what is he potentially thinking in that moment based on the information he has?
Jason Johnson: I think because of the information that he likely has at that point about what is happening in other parts of the capital complex with officers being assaulted, subjected to chemical agents, beaten, the fact that many people are armed and that they are after certain members of Congress, that that officer felt in that moment, that if that entry is breached by that, that group of people, likely several of whom were armed, that that would present a deadly threat to either himself, members of Congress, other Capitol police officers, other members of Congressional staff, and therefore believed that he was acting reasonably to use deadly force.
Investigators agreed. “Acknowledging the tragic loss of life and offering condolences to Ms. Babbitt’s family,” prosecutors said there’s no evidence the officer did not reasonably believe the fatal shot was necessary “in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.”
Sharyl: We now know that prosecutors are not going to charge the police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt. What’s your response to that?
Terrell Roberts: Well, first of all, the fact that a prosecutor doesn’t bring charges in a case does not affect the right to bring a civil action.
Roberts says he plans to bring a suit arguing the officer violated the constitutional rights of Babbitt, an Air Force veteran.
Among the areas of disagreement: the officer’s attorney says he clearly identified himself before shooting, and ordered the mob not to come through the window. Roberts says there’s no sign of that on the video.
Sharyl: How can you be sure in the video, particularly because it was loud, that he didn’t issue a warning?
Terrell Roberts: We’ve interviewed several witnesses on the same side of the door with Ashli Babbitt. They didn’t hear any kind of warning. I think a reasonable officer would know, given the noise on the other side of the door, that anything that he’s saying would not be heard. In fact, if you watch the video carefully, there’s an officer in a suit that strolls across the hallway at the time that he is supposedly yelling an announcement, who doesn’t even seem to react to that. So those are three important factors why we think he didn’t give an announcement.
One of the strangest parts of the case is the unusual secrecy: the name of the officer is being kept hidden. That’s possible because of the nature of the Capitol Police force. They’re under the authority of Congress and—like Congress—are exempt from Freedom of Information requests. And they don’t wear body cameras.
Sharyl: Do you anticipate any sort of racial component or sensitivities because the alleged shooter is allegedly an African-American and Ashli Babbitt is white? Or was white?
Terrell Roberts: The case must be looked at independent of the politics, independent of the racial information in the case. The unfortunate part, though, is that people take it into account. However, when the case gets into a courtroom, if people would just put that to the side and look at the case fairly, I believe they’re going to see, they’re going to follow the law, apply the law fairly and reach a just result.
Sharyl (on-camera): In a statement, an attorney for the officer insists his “bravery was nothing short of heroic and by shooting and killing Babbitt, he saved the lives of countless members of Congress and the rioters. The nation owes him a debt of gratitude.”
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If the officer was white and Mrs Babbitt was black this would be a different story.
It is up to us to make it so.
Here is a question. If the situation was out of control and the mob threat so great was was only a single shot fired by the officer? If in his mind based on info he has on the threats would not everyone in that window be a target to neutralize to ensure the safety of the members of Congress who were not actually in the area?!
I am getting blocked by Facebook from further commenting on your post. I have said nothing unacceptable.
Musta triggered a snowflake
I believe the officer had no valid reason to shoot and that the ONLY reason he would do so was because he was ordered or paid to do it…motives abound but at the top of the list would be nefarious characters…again, not hard to name, wanted the ‘mostly peaceful event’ (see what I did there?) to turn violent…it is interesting that the MSM insisted on calling this an ‘armed rebellion’…with a straight face, I might add…no thinking person believes the narrative being put out there and for some reason no one wants to stand up and point at the obviously naked truth…regardless, we all see it.
Your goddam right!!!!
There was no insurrection just a protest that had a few bad apples; many whom were antifa/blm terrorist. BTW the shooter is thought to actually be pense’s body guard….
I have heard from someone on the US Cap police force that the order was given to fire over the radio, and that it was immediately retracted, but this officer fired when the order was given. When I discussed this with an officer who was on the net, he said no one knew who gave the order to fire. This was the evening of the 7th that this information was relayed to me. Being in the DC area, and knowing many people in various government offices, it can be a bit disturbing to hear what’s really going on, and see what the press is reporting. Reminds me of the leaked NOC list on the Ukraine thing and how quickly they hushed that up and protected Yovanovich and the Biden people. Hell, Yavonovich landed a sinecure post at Georgetown instead of in prison, and I’m sure the Biden State Department will give her a new plum assignment.
What hospital was she taken to? Was she cremated? Or where was she buried. Did she have a funeral. Nothing in the news. I haven’t heard nothing about her. I wonder if she’s still alive?
I have thought the same thing not a dam thing
Sharyl says this in her presentation:
In a statement, an attorney for the officer insists his “bravery was nothing short of heroic and by shooting and killing Babbitt, he saved the lives of countless members of Congress and the rioters. The nation owes him a debt of gratitude.”
Could you please give a reference for this quote? I have seen the quote in several different forms, but not this form. In particular “by shooting and killing Babbitt” does not appear in other places. Sorry to be pedantic about this, but if I am going to get as angry about this as I think I am, I want to have my facts straight.
I saw the video that John Sullivan took of the crowd trying to enter the windowed doors as Ashlie and group were standing out side from the doors. Some windows had been smashed and she saw an open through one of the windows and made an attempt to get in. She showed no threat as she tried to climb through however the Officer had his gun pointed at her w an before she appeared to be any threat. He shot her and she fell backward still being outside the windowed doors. He did not need to shoot her she posed no immediate threat. The Police officer over reacted. After that he did not attempt to stop the others. He was wrong!
She was a terrorist looking to assassinate Pence and congress. She knew what she was in for.
Senior retired LEO read your article & responds: The shooting was not justified. There is no REASONABLE basis for the LT to believe his life was in danger because of her actions. The family should have a good civil suit. Failure to supervise, failure to train, failure to have available non-lethal weapons which any responsible LE agency would have had available under the circumstances.
We were there. Some police were VERY AGGRESSIVE and were shooting everyone with tear gash and flash grenades! They were just shooting into the crowd where people weren’t coming in. There were old people, disabled people, and dogs! We got shot with these and we didn’t try to enter the Capital. I have video.
I think they made a lot of people mad and helped to create this situation.
MANY, MANY, Trump supporters were severely injured by them. I have video of that also.