Ashli Babbitt’s husband goes on Fox News to appeal for cop who shot her to be named
Remarks follow a legal case against the Metropolitan Police Department for information
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The husband of Ashli Babbit, the woman who was fatally shot during the Capitol riot, has called for officials to name the officer who fired at the 35-year-old.
Her husband, Aaron Babbit, said there was a “deafening silence” from the Metropolitan Police Department after it did not name the officer responsible, in an appearance on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Monday.
“Somebody in DC knows,” said Mr Babbitt. “I think a lot of people know, but nobody is telling us. And the silence is deafening.”
Ms Babbitt, who was among hundreds who attacked the US Capitol building in the name of Donald Trump in January, was fatally shot by an officer from the Capitol Police Department.
She was attempting to climb through a broken window down the hallway from the House chamber, and died of her injuries in a hospital.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in April that it was not filing charges against the officer who shot Ms Babbitt, following a “thorough investigation”.
The DOJ added that it was reasonable to believe “that it was necessary to do so in self-defence or in defence of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber”.
Four others died from injuries sustained in the riot, including a Capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick.
An attorney for Mr Babbitt, Terrell Roberts, added on Monday that he believed the officer who fired at Ms Babbitt was the same individual who left a firearm in a a toilet inside the Capitol building in 2019. Although there was no evidence for the allegation.
Mr Babbitt, who also criticised reports about Ms Babbit’s belief in far-right conspiracies, announced last week that he was suing the MPD for refusing to identify the officer.
Ms Babbitt, a veteran of the US Air Force, frequently discussed Fox News and Mr Trump on Twitter, as well as far-right conspiracies. It included tweeting the day before 6 January that “the storm is here”, as NBC News reported, in an apparent reference to a QAnon theory about a day of reckoning for Mr Trump’s opponents.