Air Force veteran fatally shot by police
A woman was fatally shot by a US Capitol Police employee as the mob tried to force its way toward the House Chamber where members of Congress were sheltering, US Capitol Police said in a statement.
The woman was given medical assistance immediately and taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Authorities identified her as Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old from Huntington, Maryland.
Babbit's mother, Michelle Witthoeft told CNN on Thursday she was devastated to learn of her daughter's death.
"I loved and admired her greatly," Witthoeft said of Babbitt. "She served this country boldly and proudly."
Babbitt was an ardent Trump supporter who held strong political views, her mother said, and was "passionate enough to die for what she believed in."
Babbitt, who was previously married but separated from her husband in 2019, frequently attended pro-Trump rallies. She flew to Washington, DC, from San Diego, California, with the intent to participate in the protest this week, her mother said.
"Her political views were strong and adamant, and she voiced them whenever she could," Witthoeft said.
A CNN review of Babbitt's social media accounts determined Babbitt frequently voiced support for President Trump and other conservative figures on Facebook. She also shared content promoting political conspiracy theories often pushed by far-right figures.
Babbitt served as a senior airman in the US Air Force from 2004 to 2008 under the name Ashli Elizabeth McEntee, according to military records. She was a member of the Air Force Reserve from 2008 to 2010 and was in the Air National Guard from 2010 until November 2016, records show.
"She served in the United States Air Force and was deployed four times and came back safely, only to have her own country shoot her down," Witthoeft said tearfully by phone.
The US Capitol Police employee who shot Babbitt has been placed on administrative leave and their police powers have been suspended pending a joint Metro Police and USCP investigation, USCP said.
"This is a tragic incident, and I send my condolences to the victim's family and friends," Metro Police Chief Contee said.
Two people who saw the shooting, left-wing activist John Sullivan and documentary filmmaker Jade Sacker, provided CNN with video of the incident and described the moments beforehand.
Sullivan said rioters were using flag poles and other items to smash glass windows inside the Capitol. The woman then tried to make her way through the window when several people with guns came out through the doorways.
"The second that she climbed through the window she got shot right in the neck area, fell backwards," Sullivan said in an interview that broadcast on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."
"I just remember the sense of shock and sorrow that somebody just died and did not need to die."
The woman was trying to enter an area that did not yet appear to have been breached by rioters, Sullivan said.
"It was an area that was completely blocked off," he said. "They had chairs up against the doorway, tables, so people couldn't get in."