The woman killed in the shooting at Capitol Hill was identified as 35-year-old veteran Ashli Babbitt.
According to her husband, she was a strong Trump supporter and among the hundreds of protesters seeking to overturn Trump’s election loss.
Her husband Aaron Babbitt spoke to KUSHI-TV and said his wife was “a high-level security official throughout her 14 years in the Air Force service,” and “a great patriot to all who knew her.”
After arriving in Washington D.C., now late Ashli Babbitt posted on Twitter. “Nothing will stop us…. they can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours….dark to light,” she wrote.
BREAKING: Family confirms woman shot & killed at Capitol is Ashli Babbit. She owned a business in San Diego w/ her huband who did not come to DC. “I really dont know why she decided to do this,” her mother-in-law tells me. Police have not confirmed circumstances of shooting pic.twitter.com/OOYpNWpMLg
— Lindsay Watts (@LindsayAWatts) January 7, 2021
What started as a protest, soon turned into a riot, and as protesters advanced and tried to break through the glass and wood doors into the Speaker’s lobby at the Capitol building, the security personnel drew their guns at Ashli and those around her. In a moment of chaos, a plainclothes Capitol police officer fired a single shot. Ashli was hit in her neck and later died.
An eyewitness described the scene. “We had stormed into the chambers inside, and there was a young lady who rushed through the windows. A number of police and Secret Service were saying get back, get down and get out of the way,” the New Jersey man said. “She didn’t heed the call. As we kind of raced up to grab people and pull them back, they shot her in the neck. She fell back on me. She started to say she was fine, it’s cool. Then she started moving weird and blood was coming out of her neck and mouth and nose. I don’t know if she’s alive or dead anymore,” he added.
Nothing will stop us….they can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours….dark to light!
— CommonAshSense (@Ashli_Babbitt) January 5, 2021
Videos of the shooting emerged online. You can see the actual footage of Ashli’s killing below. Please note the content is graphic:
— Tayler Hansen (@TaylerUSA) January 6, 2021