Brian Sicknick's mother questioned her son's cause of death, which was attributed to the Capitol Police officer being hit on the head with a fire extinguisher during the Jan. 6 riot.
Gladys Sicknick, 74, told the U.K.'s Daily Mail she did not know what killed her son, but suggested he might have died of a stroke.
"He wasn't hit on the head, no; we think he had a stroke," Gladys Sicknick said in a story published Monday. "But we don't know anything for sure. We'd love to know what happened."
Brian Sicknick, 42, died while on life support a day after demonstrators protesting the election results rioted at the Capitol.
The Daily Mail said Capitol Police had not confirmed Sicknick's official cause of death.
"Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on duty," according a police statement.
"Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters," police added. "He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries."
On Jan. 8, The New York Times reported supporters of then-President Donald Trump "overpowered Mr Sicknick, 42, and struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher, according to two law enforcement officials. With a bloody gash in his head, Mr. Sicknick was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support."
The Daily Mail confirmed with D.C.'s Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services that Sicknick was not "rushed to hospital" and returned to his division department.
Sicknick's brother Ken spoke with ProPublica on Jan. 8 and said his brother had been in good spirits, and had texted him after returning to the department.
Ken Sicknick said his brother texted "last night and said, 'I got pepper-sprayed twice,'" but was in good shape.
Sicknick's father, Charles, 81, told Reuters on Jan. 8 the family had been told Brian Sicknick had a blood clot on his brain and suffered a stroke.
Authorities largely have been quiet about Sicknick's death.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, along with his fellow police officers, attended Sicknick's memorial service in the Capitol rotunda. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
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