Inside the Deadly Capitol Shooting

WASHINGTON – During the four-and-a-half-hour attack on the Capitol on January 6, one of the times the crowds came close to the lawmakers they were pursuing was just after 2:30 p.m.

On one side of a set of antique wood and glass doors were dozens of lawmakers and their aides trying to evacuate the chamber from the House.

On the other, rioters were shouting “Stop flying”, pounding the windows with a flagpole, a helmet and even a bare fist.

Between the two was a lieutenant from the Capitol Police, scrambling to stack tables and chairs in a makeshift barricade. He had 31 rounds for his service weapon, and he told others he was afraid he would need them all.

At the height of the stalemate, a woman named Ashli ​​Babbitt attempted to jump out of a window. The lieutenant, her weapon already deployed, pulled the trigger once, killing her in a clash that was captured on video and widely seen around the world.

At least three investigations into the January 6 security response are ongoing, and authorities have not provided full details of Ms Babbitt’s death.

But videos taken from the episode, legal documents, and testimony point to a dire set of circumstances and an officer left to confront a crowd. The officer, a lieutenant who has not been publicly named, has been placed on administrative leave while his actions are reviewed by federal authorities.

The use of lethal force by officers is considered legally justified if they fear “objectively reasonable” that they will suffer serious and imminent harm to themselves or to others. Several police experts said the video of the meeting was not enough for them to give an opinion on the shooting. But interviews with two people with first-hand knowledge of the agent’s account suggest that he will argue that he acted to protect lawmakers from harm.

“I could look them in the eye,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, who presided over the president’s chair and was one of the last to leave as the crowds tried to walk through the doors. “I mean, that’s how close they were.”

He added: “I don’t even know what would have happened if they had violated this area.”

Ms Babbitt’s husband Aaron told a Fox affiliate on the day of the riot that he saw his wife die on the news.

“She had no gun on her, I don’t know why she had to die at the People’s House,” he said, adding, “She was expressing her opinion and she was killed for it.

He did not respond to an email requesting comment. One of Ms Babbitt’s brothers, reached by phone, declined to comment.

Ms Babbitt was one of five people who lost their lives on Capitol Hill that day. A Capitol police officer was overpowered and beaten by rioters. A Georgian woman appears to have been killed in a crash of fellow rioters. One man had a stroke and another had a heart attack.

The lieutenant had heard on the news that Trump supporters like Ms Babbitt would converge on Washington, according to his account. But the first time the protests were discussed at work did not occur until he arrived early that morning; according to his account, he had not received any advance planning to counter a violent riot or an invasion of the building.

That afternoon, the House and Senate were in session, with hundreds of lawmakers debating challenges to the certification of the Electoral College vote when the crowds pushed their way past the lines of police on Capitol Hill. outside and forced his way into the building. Some said they just wanted to halt the proceedings while others carried weapons, climbing gear and ties that could be used as restraints.

The crowd was strewn with far-right nationalists, veterans and militiamen, and supporters of a dangerous conspiracy. The rioters slammed the police and called them traitors while threatening to kill former Vice President Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House.

The lieutenant, a former officer, was regularly assigned to the President’s lobby, a closed corridor and waiting room in the inner sanctum of the Capitol where access is very restricted. The entrance hall runs directly behind the House Chamber and is lined with portraits of former House leaders. It is linked by two sets of old wooden doors with windows, one on the Democratic side and one on the Republican side.

At around 2:15 p.m., the lieutenant learned over the radio that the Capitol had been violated, according to his account.

Ms Pelosi was escorted out of the bedroom, but the situation at the time was so little known that she left her phone on the dais as if she was coming back shortly, Mr McGovern recalls.

At 2:30 p.m., a crowd that included Ms Babbitt walked through the Capitol Rotunda and Statuary Hall. By this time they were quiet, even staying in an alleyway bounded by velvet ropes. But as they made their way to the north doors of the house, they got aggressive, chanting, “Break it.”

“Hey guys, I have a knife,” one can hear one person in the crowd.

These doors had been barricaded inside with furniture, and three plainclothes officers just inside the room had drawn their guns.

On the ground, the debates were interrupted several times, the leaders being expelled.

“You could hear people shouting outside bedroom doors and knocking on doors,” said Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat from California.

But no one on the House side has yet understood the size of the crowd or the gravity of the situation, McGovern said.

Seeking another way to enter the Chamber, part of the crowd, including Ms Babbitt, broke away and made their way to the Democratic side of the President’s lobby.

They were heading straight for the passage used to clear the floor of the house. Dozens of lawmakers and aides, according to witnesses’ estimates, were ushered in through doors on the Republican side of the chamber into the president’s lobby. It was a slow group that had to sneak up a narrow staircase.

When Mr. McGovern reached the hallway, he turned to see the barricade of overturned furniture and the scene beyond.

“I could see the angry crowd banging on the glass and saw several policemen sandwiched between the crowd and the doors,” he said. “That’s when I realized it was more than a few people.”

He added: “You are asking me to describe the evil – this is what it looked like. I mean, these people seem crazy. And I mean, they weren’t there to make a political point. They were there to destroy things.

Three Capitol Hill police officers stood guard outside the gates. The crowd hurled insults at them and hit the glass inches from their heads. To the right, at the top of a stairwell, stood a man in a suit with a headset, identified by someone familiar with Congressional security as an unarmed member of the House Sergeant-at-Arms staff.

Near the front was Ms Babbitt, 35, who had served 14 years in the Air Force and was an enthusiastic supporter of President Donald J. Trump. His social media feed was filled with QAnon conspiracy theories.

A man in the crowd, David Charles Mish Jr. of Wisconsin, told an investigator later that Ms Babbitt was telling police, “Just open the door. They are not going to stop, ”according to an affidavit.

Inside the gates was the lieutenant, who, according to his account, had trained to face an active shooter but never in a scenario like this, in which the Capitol was overrun by large numbers of people. . Calls for reinforcements and reports from officers engaged punctuated the radio traffic.

Since the breach began, rioters have brandished bear spray, batons, hoses and fire extinguishers against officers. When the lieutenant thought he heard on the radio that shots had been fired, according to his account, he positioned himself on a door on one side of the hallway, in sight of anyone attempting to pass through the glass doors.

With lawmakers slowly draining the back of the room, these doors have become a strategic choke point.

The officer, according to his account, couldn’t see the three uniformed officers outside and didn’t know they were there – he only described seeing a hallway full of oncoming people. The three officers had no visible shields or riot gear – two of them weren’t even wearing hats.

According to the lieutenant’s account, he did not know who among the rioters, if any, was armed. He also couldn’t see how far the crowd stretched down the hall.

The lieutenant was also unaware, those briefed on him said, that a Capitol Police tactical team was climbing the stairwell behind Ms Babbitt, intending to reinforce the area and d ‘eliminate the rioters.

When the team arrived, one of the three officers standing guard gave the note: “They are ready to roll.”

The officers walked away from their posts, leaving the doors unattended for a crucial 30 seconds.

“Go! Let’s go!” someone shouted as a few rioters renewed their attack on the glass. They continued to hammer, shaking the doors in their frames.

Several members of the mob have since been identified and arrested by the FBI, including Christopher Ray Grider, a central Texas cellar owner who is accused of attempting to knock on doors and supplying a black helmet used to break down doors. windows, and Chad Barrett Jones of Coxs Creek, Ky., charged with smashing windows with a pole.

As they moved in, they had a clear view of the lieutenant on the other side, who was raising his .40 caliber Glock handgun.

“There is a gun!” “He has a gun!” people shouted.

In the thick of the action, a helmet-wielding man burst through the window in front of Ms Babbitt. Seconds later, someone tried to stimulate her. She wore a Trump flag around her neck like a cape and a backpack on it.

As Mrs. Babbitt was hoisted up, the lieutenant fired a single shot. She fell back, hitting the ground hard. There was no proof that she had been armed.

Since Ms Babbitt’s death, far-right extremists and white supremacists have claimed her as a martyr and a “freedom fighter”, even reproducing her image on flags and with anti-Semitic images. Many have demanded disclosure of the name of the officer who shot her.

Mr McGovern said any loss of life was tragic. But he hailed the Capitol Police as heroes, noting that no member of Congress or his staff were injured. “I think he and others have been very restrained in all of this,” he said of the lieutenant.

The shooting put an end to attempts to break through the doors. Officers attempted to repel the rioters and provide Ms. Babbitt with medical assistance.

A member of the tactical team tried to stop his bleeding, pressing on his left shoulder as blood flowed from his mouth and nose.

Outside the Capitol, news of the shooting began to spread, helping to fuel the anger of the crowd.

Adam goldman reported from Washington, and Shaila Dewan from New York. Evan hill contributed reporting from Madison, Wisconsin., Malachy browne from New York and Luke broadwater from Washington. Videos Dmitriy Khavin and Meg felling.