Ashli Babbitt was a U.S. Air Force veteran who was shot and killed inside the U.S. Capitol by then-Capitol Police Lt. Byrd on Jan. 6, 2021. Now, a lawsuit by her family is asking the government to be held accountable.
The lawsuit includes claims against the U.S. Government for wrongful death, assault and battery, and various negligence issues.
Babbitt, from San Diego, Calif., had traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend the Women for America First (aka Save America) rally on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Ellipse.
The lawsuit explains, “Ashli loved her country and wanted to show her support for President Trump’s America First policies and to see and hear the president speak live while he remained in office. Ashli did not go to Washington as part of a group or for any unlawful or nefarious purpose. She was there to exercise what she believed were her God-given, American liberties and freedoms.”
Babbitt had served 12 years in the Air Force, Air Force Reserves, and Air National Guard as a security forces controller. She was a member of the Libertarian Party and a supporter of President Trump.
Judicial Watch, whose CEO is Tom Fitton, said that after the rally, Babbitt walked to the Capitol peacefully.
“Two undercover Metropolitan Police Department officers followed close behind Ashli as she climbed the stairs to the West Terrace. Ashli entered the Capitol on the Senate side long after others had done so. Once inside, Ashli encountered a female Capitol Police officer, who directed her to walk south toward the House side. Ashli complied, walking alone through the Capitol and ultimately arriving at the hallway outside the main door to the House chamber, where demonstrators had gathered. From there, Ashli walked by herself east, along the hallway outside the House chamber, then turned south, reaching the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby at the southeast corner of the Capitol.”
The shooting of Babbitt occurred at the east entrance to the Speaker’s Lobby.
“After demonstrators filled the hallway outside the lobby, two individuals in the crowded, tightly packed hallway struck and dislodged the glass panels in the lobby doors and the right door sidelight. Lt. Byrd, who is a USCP commander and was the incident commander for the House on January 6, 2021, shot Ashli on sight as she raised herself up into the opening of the right door sidelight. Lt. Byrd later confessed that he shot Ashli before seeing her hands or assessing her intentions or even identifying her as female. Ashli was unarmed. Her hands were up in the air, empty, and in plain view of Lt. Byrd and other officers in the lobby.”
Lt. Byrd, who is a Capitol Police commander and the incident commander for the House on Jan. 6, 2021, shot Babbitt as she raised herself up into the opening of the right door sidelight, the lawsuit says.
“Not one member of Congress was in the lobby, which was guarded by multiple armed police officers. Additional armed police officers were in the hallway outside the lobby and/or on the adjoining stairway. Ashli could not have seen Lt. Byrd, who was positioned far to Ashli’s left and on the opposite side of the doors, near an opening to the Retiring Room, a distance of approximately 15 feet and an angle of approximately 160 degrees. Sgt. Timothy Lively, one of the armed officers guarding the lobby doors from the hallway, later told officials investigating the shooting, ‘I saw him . . . there was no way that woman would’ve seen that.'”
Further, the lawsuit contends, Lt. Byrd, who was not in uniform, did not identify himself as a police officer or otherwise make his presence known to Babbitt. He did not give her any warnings or commands before slaying her.
“Ashli remained conscious for minutes or longer after being shot by Lt. Byrd. Ashli experienced extreme pain, suffering, mental anguish, and intense fear before slipping into pre-terminal unconsciousness. The autopsy report identified the cause of death as a ‘gunshot wound to left anterior shoulder’ with an onset interval of ‘minutes.’ The fact that Ashli was alive and conscious in extreme pain and suffering is documented in videos of the shooting. Furthermore, nothing about the wound track described in the autopsy report would be expected to result in immediate death or instantaneous loss of consciousness, and Ashli’s lungs contained blood, further confirming that she was alive and breathing after being shot. Ashli was pronounced dead at Washington Hospital Center at 3:15 p.m. The medical examiner determined that the manner of death was homicide,” the lawsuit contends.
Lt. Byrd’s police powers had been revoked prior to this incident, “for failing to meet or complete semiannual firearms qualification requirements. In fact, Lt. Byrd had a reputation among peers for not being a good shot. Under USCP’s range management system, an officer who fails to meet firearm qualification requirements is given one week of remedial training. If the officer still fails to qualify after remedial training, police powers are then revoked until the officer qualifies.”
Lt. Byrd’s police powers also were revoked for a prior off-duty shooting into a stolen, moving vehicle in which the occupants were teenagers or juveniles. The stolen vehicle was Lt. Byrd’s own car. He fired multiple shots at the fleeing vehicle in a suburban area. Stray bullets from Lt. Byrd’s firearm struck the sides of homes nearby. An official investigation found that Lt. Byrd’s use of force was not justified, Judicial Watch says in the lawsuit. Therefore, Capitol Police should have known he was not suited for the assignment of being the incident commander.
Plaintiffs are seeking $30 million plus costs and interest. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court Southern District of California.
“We and our supporters are honored to represent Ashli’s steadfast widower Aaron Babbitt and her estate in this legal action. Ashli was shot in cold blood and the rule of law requires justice for her,” Fitton said in a statement.
This was an outragous incident!
Lt. Byrd is Black, just for the record. Was he competent enough to meet the standards required for incident commander? Ask Joe Biden and his press secretary.
Indeed. All of the people who broke into the capitol were involved in this outrageous incident. If this had been any other country, they all would have been shot.
A country like Iran, or a North Korea perhaps. They were not armed nor engaging in any violence at all. Compare that to what happened in Seattle in June of the same year when heavily armed thugs took over federal buildings, the courthouse, and violently kicking everyone out, setting up “CHAZ – Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. That was a real insurrection, yet the Marxist socialist American hating perpetrators have never been prosecuted. Nothing.
Elizabeth, you need to stop lying. This video shows your Trump supporters smashing doors, and windows. You think this is okay? Are you mentally defective? I’ve been to the capital many times, I’ve always treated this beautiful building with reverence and respect.
When your little hero got herself shot, she was climbing thorough a smashed out window. Guess what? The mob finally got the message and stopped trying to smash through the barricade. Good call officer! If a mob was trying to break into my, or your, home that way, using lethal force would have been entirely justified.
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z3YBtzwmHk
Only in the most fervid, dishonest, disingenuous and brainwashed imaginations of a radical leftist extremist could three broken windows and an unarmed, otherwise peaceful protest be considered an “insurrection”.
The level of inflammatory agitprop inherent in even using that word in this context is astronomical.
M, let me ask you the same question that I have asked cman, multiple times now: how does it feel to be a shill for a corrupt and illegitimate establishment, a collaborator and lackey for those in power, and a kneejerk conformist to all others so disabused of reality, intelligence and courage? I would really like to know.
Jefferson, you can’t argue facts, so the best you can do is ad hominem attacks?
Rational people want Biden to go away. Rational people know the best chance to win against Biden is to elect a credible candidate that has none of the baggage- and criminal conduct- associated with Trump. The Trump cult members don’t view the attack on the joint session of Congress as a criminal act- yet 700 of these criminals have pleaded guilty, and another 100 have been found guilty in criminal trials.
If an angry mob was trying to break through your front door you’d be on the phone begging for help, or you might even be shooting at them, just like the officer did.
I find it funny you question anyone’s mental capacity.
You still haven’t answered my question, M.
How does it feel to be a cowardly conformist and a shill for a corrupt and evil establishment? Because your posting history here has clearly demonstrated that that is what you are. I’ll take just three or four sentences, you don’t need to write an essay on it.
Do you have any verifiable proof the folks smashing windows were not FBI agents?
It is curious that there were plenty of Capital police nearby in the videos showing damage, but none of them so much as raised a hand, or shouted anything to stop it. Weird.
Add to that the FBI had hundreds of informants/provocateurs in the crowd. I am going to suspect the videos of damage to the building, which are repeatedly shown, are propaganda, not actual Trump supporters.
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So… before I take you seriously, find out the identities of the people smashing windows, and provide demonstratable proof they were in fact Trump supporters.
You call it an incident as opposed to an insurrection.
Perhaps your learning something hanging around here.
Ms Babbit would not have been murdered like this in most 1st world countries.
She was an unarmed, female, veteran who loved this country.
This guy was a bad cop, probably kept on duty by contractual, union rules, designed to keep bad government employees on the job & paying dues.
The most violent thing on Jan 6 was her murder by our Federal government.
In Minneapolis, bad guys BURNED A POLICE STATION TO THE GROUND and the cops watched. Nobody shot.
This promises to be a very quiet case.
Listen to attorney Larry Claman on Sunday night radio. He owns Judicial Watch, and he is not quiet.
B-b-but… Lt. Byrd was called a HERO on January 6. This award of heroism was given by the person who was closest to the killing – Lt. Byrd, himself. “I know that day I saved countless lives… I believe I showed the utmost courage… ” You see, it takes a good Byrd with a gun to stop an unarmed woman.
No warning or a command to stop is warranted – just shoot to kill. Sorry, Byrd, you seem more like an incompetent boob or a sociopathic killer.
A moment of silence on the anniversary of J6.
We remember the police inviting protestors in.
We remember the Fed agent provocateurs fomenting violence.
We remember the police opening fire on the unarmed crowd.
We remember Ashli Babbitt and Rosanne Boyland, innocent women martyred by a globalist coup.
We remember the political prisoners held in the DC gulag, some going years without trial and many denied proper medical care, subject to prolonged solitary confinement and tormented by sadistic, partisan guards.
We remember our country was stolen by an international cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophilic globalists. We remember Biden is a puppet, that Obama and Yellen are really running the country on behalf of Davos.
America remembers J6.
America remembers.
Ding ding ding! There you are, as predicted. I’m sure your Koch Brothers check is in the mail. You’re really earning your pay today comrade.
(yawn)
Middle school? Judging by your moniker I am guessing 6th or 7th grade perhaps?
Cman
Your earning your place in history also by all the ridiculous statements coming from your lack of proper education.
You make it so obvious that you’re a lefty with no clue on how life works.
Where is the use of force report by Byrd justifying his use of deadly force? How does Byrd explain his perception of how Babbitt, who was unarmed, presented a threat of serious bodily injury or death to him or others?
Last time I checked, the Koch brothers donate just as much to Democrats.
Jefferson
My head is bowed as well.
Im in agreement with your statement 100%
I remember traitors desecrating our Capitol. Too bad there wasn’t more Babbits
Ooooh. Tough guy. Wanting people dead, but not brave enough to do it himself.
Pathetic. But your a liberal so I repeat myself.
That’s what the British said at the Tea Party.
Leftists always end up at genocide.
Thanks for reminding us of that.
jefferson … oh, never mind.
Done.
I side with the cops. 99% of the time they are justified in using lethal force. The officer who was involved in this shooting recounts the events of the day, along with a video of the braying mob smashing though the barricaded doors- and breaking windows. These were not peaceful protestors.
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpRG1GVt1qU
Of course you side with the cops, and with the (corrupt) federal authorities in general.
That is what every good servile quisling and boot-licking conformist does.
Who attacked who? Why did capital police break out the rubber bullets and flash bang munitions? Where were they during the summer of Love BLM and Antifa protests that ruined businesses and 2 billion in property damage?
So you support Derek Chavin?
Most of our law enforcement are indeed honorable, self sacrificing and hard working. There was something else going on that day. I watched most of the tedious hours of video that were released and saw no ‘braying’ and there was little unruliness of any kind. What exactly was not peaceful? Chanting slogans or phrases loudly does not count. Maybe go find actual real reporting on what transpired in Seattle six months earlier with the CHAZ zone real insurrection. Compare. There is your violence. Yet no charges. Why?
“ What exactly was not peaceful?”
That you ask that question means you didn’t watch the proper videos or you have pitched your tent in Trump’s colon.
Interesting, so to you only certain videos of the 44000 hours of surveillance are “proper”? Sorry Cal, it doesn’t work that way. Cherry-picking your scenes for your narrative is manipulation and an enemy of truth and the republic.
I have seen J6 video of people staying within the velvet ropes taking pictures, and police standing around and doing nothing at all, or having conversations with people in what appears to be a cordial manner.
Please also can your 3rd grade attempt at insults. Potty jokes?? Really??
Of the 40,000 hours of video, the same… what… minute and a half of damage to the Capital is shown over and over again.
Weird that you assume it means every second of the entire day was an out of control riot based on the action of a few (potentially government agent) actors.
And, the possibility that he is lying to save his sorry ass from a richly deserved firing, if not murder charges, never crossed your mind?
Byrd shot an unarmed woman in the neck from behind cover. The man is nothing less than a murderer and needs to be tried for it. Instead, feckless Lindsey Graham, comforted him after the murder. That tells me how much I can trust our elected officials. I expect Murkowski to be silent, but I haven’t heard a word from Sullivan. I guess he’s holding his finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing.
Did he know she was unarmed? For that matter, do you? The answer to both is no. Thanks for playing.
Your suggestion that she may have been armed is ridiculous. No one has claimed that she was, not even he. Why did he choose to shoot HER anyway? And why did he do it from behind cover as the videos show? Give me your proof that she was a violent looking person, amidst all that crowd, who threatened him and needed to be shot in self defense.
And this isn’t a game BTW (in case you are confused).
cman, actually that is the real crux here.
I watched video (taken by a rioter). The door to the speaker’s lobby was barricaded, no one had come through, but a window was being removed by rioters and a person was in the process of climbing in. There was no way she was holding a weapon and scrambling up and through. You can see a handgun poking out of the doorway and then a person rushing forward and shoot. Why do that? Why not stand instead with other officers (visible in the background) and give at least a warning? Many a police officer have been found guilty and convicted of shooting unarmed suspects, yet he gets a pass, why?
The window was a strangle point, making it impossible for rioters to advance en mass. With adequate police force strength it should have been possible to arrest any person coming through. Instead it looks like Lt. Byrd shot first and did not ask any questions later.
Did Derek Chauvin know Saint George was unarmed?
Did George Zimmerman know Saint Trayvon was unarmed?
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Are you OK with using deadly force because someone is unsure about whether another human being is unarmed?
You must be, otherwise your comment is a hypocritical pile of dung.
This may be the action which exposes the unexposable!
What a load of crap but I’m sure it’ll appeal to all the MAGA/Dear Leder lovers on here.
I can already anticipate the comments from the Koch Brother funded sycophants.
Well, we have already heard from the authority-worshipping boot lickers and “good German” collaborators, such as yourself.
Cman, you still have yet to tell me, and to tell us: what is like, really, to be a willing and kneejerk lackey to those in power, and an utterly servile and spineless conformist?
What’s it like to see a riot on video with your own eyes and have the nerve to call it a peaceful protest. You’re so far gone there isn’t an adjective in the English language that would accurately describe your galactic sized denial of reality.
Cman, you still have not told us what it is like to be a servile and kneejerk supporter of corrupt authority, an abject quisling, a collaborator, a lackey, and a sycophant to those in power, merely because they ARE in power. Not to mention being a cowardly conformist to those who likewise gladly and obediently bend their knee to those in power.
Come on, tell us — I would really like to know.
Because that mentality of yours is so utterly alien to me, I cannot even begin to comprehend it, nor the moral and intellectual surrender which it entails.
And you have not answered my question about your lack of objectivity so right back at ya princess.
Sorry, but that’s hilarious cman.
I recall a news report from a George Floyd protest, where the reporter proclaimed it to be a “peaceful protest” while in the background people were burning cars and throwing rocks…..! If memory serves you defended those riots….
Nope, never defended those idiots either. Both groups deserve to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Just like the insurrection appeals to brainwashed boobs like you.
Cman
You are out of date .
Maga is on the opposite side of the fence from the koch brothers.
Maga is closer to true Liberal principles which leftists abandoned.
Koch is a self serving businessman.
Maga is for American freedom and independence.
Murder is murder. Ashli babbit was unarmed.
Her life was stolen by a deranged man .
Cman, and Cal Worthington here, and the other quislings and establishment shills here, would have been condemning the Boston Tea Party, and the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord, and the entire American War of Independence, as nothing more than “treason”, and would have proudly stood with the British.
They are traitors to everything which this country stands for, and I spit on them and revile them as unfit for sharing the same country with me and with all others who still honor and uphold the principles of liberty.
I do hope you are charging the Koch brothers rent. I am sure Trump is in there as well?
Considering that “Dear Leader” just compared Trump to Hitler, where is your outrage?
When the powers-that-be demonize and slander those, who simple are of a different opinion and neither allow or ban any opposition, there can no longer exist a representative republic with discourse about ideas and equal protections under the law.
It is tyranny!
Oh sniff
Typical toddler… errr… I mean leftist.
If someone disagrees with you it must be because they are being told to do so by some evil entity.
.
Perhaps, just let this idea bounce around in your otherwise empty skull for a few seconds, perhaps it is possible that you are no in possession of 100% of the facts, and there is a different side to the story.
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It is the rational and mature thing to do.
Accusing others of being puppets does nothing to convince anyone that you are right at all.
January 6th the people requested a review of the presidential certification for proof that it was actually performed. Where was it performed? Was it performed in a closet without the bundles present and the process being just Pence actually thunking about it and signing (it” (the certification)? Just the facts please. And no it is not just a ceremonial act in the largest financial corporation on the spinning globe.
Murder has no statute of limitations. This killer can be charged at any time. Interesting that the medical examiner ruled this a homicide. All we lack at this point is an indictment to start the wheels of justice rolling.
Good let.her family go after him in civil.court after this case.
We should all learn a lesson from this tragedy. Whenever you are breaking into a government building and an armed policeman begs you to stop numerous times and warns you he may shoot you should take his threat seriously. I would think AB’s military training would have covered this? Thoughts and prayers.
Byrd had no military training. He actually was pulled from duty until.he could actually fire his side arm accurately. Shot up his own car with the teenagers in it. BTW he is a naturalized citizen hailing from Jamaica. Did they find his glock in any public restrooms on the capitol lately?
AB is ashli babbitt. Denali, try to hold it together. Reality is difficult for all of us.
Reality is go review the footage of her execution. There were no pleas for her to stop by Byrd. All you see is his hand raise with firearm and then it was over. Are you ok having unqualified persons in charge of making lethal choice decisions where the public is concerned? That question is reality.
“Lt. Byrd, who was not in uniform, did not identify himself as a police officer or otherwise make his presence known to Babbitt. He did not give her any warnings or commands before slaying her. Sgt. Timothy Lively, one of the armed officers guarding the lobby doors from the hallway, later told officials investigating the shooting, ‘I saw him . . . there was no way that woman would’ve seen that.’” Curious…when did the murderer do any begging? Or warning? His own fellow officer contradicts your idiotic remark.
So you know as much about military training as you do anything else. Next to zero.
Way past time that this travesty is brought to light! Our prayers to Her Family.
There may have been a valid reason for the shooting. There may not have been.
But her parents deserve to know. This hiding details and creating hero status of the shooter makes this look beyond shady.
If the races were reversed, this stonewalling would never have been permitted.
Ashli Babbitt played stupid games, Ashli Babbitt won stupid prizes. She got exactly what she deserved.
Interesting. Should they have just opened fire on everyone? Gun them all down?
I’m curious what information you have the rest of us don’t.
“Patriot” probably thinks, yes, they should have all been gunned down. But they couldn’t gun them all down because there was a sizable contingent of fedboys posers amongst them.
Byrd was a train wreck who had already committed firearm violations including leaving his sidearm in a capital bathroom. A real bright star there.
Ho, ‘Patriot.’ This unarmed protester deserved to be shot and killed? Are you condoning the slaughter by gun fire of unarmed protesters in our nation? I ask, because that’s the way things are done in the tyrannies of China and Iran. You are no Patriot, but I rather suspect that you are a coward.
No, Ashli Babbit did NOT get what she deserved. She deserved to be arrested, read her Miranda rights and prosecuted for the her actions. She did not deserve to be shot to death without warning by a “trained” police officer, who should have had more restraint.
From what I read, I can not shake the feeling that Ashli Babbit was killed by a guy, who simply fired indiscriminately into a crowd of people.
Tax. Given the context of a dozen violent protesters breaking glass to enter the Senate chambers, would a peaceful arrest, as you suggested, be wise?
The officer was not “some guy” and he did not “fire indiscriminately”. He targeted the person who was six inches away from breaching the security and protection of America’s chosen representatives.
Regardless of what one thinks about the events that day, it certainly seems like Lt. Byrd shouldn’t have been there with a firearm in his hand.
I know you won’t believe it, but Washington DC is a foreign enclave where two Municipal Corporations reside and do business. The actual government of, for and by the people was never properly reconstructed after the Civil War which apparently never ended. It’s not “our government” and no one should have gone there in the first place, but Ashli wouldn’t have known that. You can’t have insurrection against a foreign corporation under contract to provide governmental services while the actual government is interregnum. One of the parent companies, the White House, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA LIMITED is located in Edinburgh Scotland. Look in their UK government site. Another is in London. Do your own research.
Interesting. Would this explain why the US jumped right back in bed with the Brits after the Civil War?
Nope. Strictly commerce.
Your first six words were eerily prescient.
Can’t keep people out of the Capitol, can’t keep people from crossing the border, can’t withdraw from Afghanistan, can’t deal with Houthi rebels, 34 trillion in debt. The deep state is in deep do-do. TIME FOR AN AUDIT!
She and others got caught up in the frenzy whipped up by a desperate Trump. His joint chiefs had deserted him, options were quickly fleeing his grasp. He used one remaining option short of martial law and said some things he hoped would glean something, anything that could keep him in power. Victims of the movement should be bring suit against Trump. That is coming.
Wow… what a vivid imagination you have.
Can you point to the words Trump used that got the crowd whipped up into a frenzy. Please grab whatever quotes you need from his speech that day, or any social media posts he may have made.
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I will wait.
Lt. Byrd appears to be an incompetent officer in addition to being a hotheaded cop. He’s probably been promoted to Captain.
What makes you say he was hotheaded? Seems like he maintained appropriate restraint until he had to stop the breach.
No, he was not stopping anything. Should have gotten the same treatment as Derek Chauvin.
I see we have a new troll.
Their desperation in trying to uphold the failing establishment narratives, and to defend the illegitimate and corrupt ruling regime, is literally palpable.
Truly. Sad thing is, at least 40 % of the nation doesn’t care how corrupt Grandpa Bloodstains and company are.
The American people never consented to any created government or capitol police to commit indignities maim, dismember, torture or murder any of the people. Show me in the law of this land, this hemisphere where exactly the US Constitution expressed consent to any of these items. There is no consent for our creation, the republic form of government to do any of these things to us.
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