Capitol Police: No Internal Discipline for Officer Who Fatally Shot Jan. 6 Protester

The Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol "will not be facing internal discipline," Capitol Police said Monday.

After interviewing multiple witnesses and reviewing all the available evidence:

"[The Department's] Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) determined the officer’s conduct was lawful and within Department policy, which says an officer may use deadly force only when the officer reasonably believes that action is in the defense of human life, including the officer’s own life, or in the defense of any person in immediate danger of serious physical injury.

"The officer in this case, who is not being identified for the officer’s safety, will not be facing internal discipline."

The announcement was anticipated after reports Friday that the officer, who has not been publicly identified, had been exonerated in the departmental probe.

The officer fired on Babbitt, 35, as she and other protesters tried to force their way into the Capitol and disrupt the congressional certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory over Donald Trump.

In videos taken by the rioters, Babbitt and others are seen inside the Capitol pushing against a door to the Speakers Lobby, which would have given them access to the chamber of the House of Representatives.

Lawmakers fled past the door just minutes before. Babbitt, wearing a Trump flag like a cape, and others threaten to break through and push officers out of the way.

As they moved to break through the door, a policeman on the other side, wearing a Covid mask that has hid his identity, shot through the glass, hitting her in the neck.

Capitol Police said in the statement that the officer had potentially saved members of Congress and their staff "from serious injury and possible death from a large crowd of rioters."

They said he and his family have been the subject of numerous credible and specific threats since the shooting.

Trumphas called her death a murder.

"I spoke to the wonderful mother and devoted husband of Ashli Babbitt, who was murdered at the hands of someone who should never have pulled the trigger of his gun," he said in a statement on Aug. 11.

"The Radical Left haters cannot be allowed to get away with this. There must be justice!" he said.

This report contains material from AFP.