No charges will be filed against officer who shot woman during Capitol riot

A TRAGEDY. >> THEIR INTENTIONS WERE PEACEFUL PROTEST, AND AS EVERYBODY SAW, THINGS SEEMED TO ESCALATE QUICKLY. PETER: PEACEFUL PROTEST TURNING INTO A RAGING RIOT. SUPPORTERS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP STORMING THE U.S. CAPITOL. POLICE SAY BREAKING THROUGH WINDOWS, FORCING THEIR WAY TOWARD MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WHO WERE SHELTERING FROM THE SIEGE. THAT’S WHEN A CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER, OPENED FIRE. >> THEY WERE GOING TO SHOOT, LIKE NOT JUST LIKE, HOLD IT THERE AND RUN AWAY. THEY WERE LITERALLY GONNA SHOOT TO KILL. THE SECOND THAT SHE CLIMBED THROUGH THE WINDOW SHE GOT SHOT. >> TO THINK THAT SOMETHING LIKE THIS WAS EVEN POSSIBLE, I DON’T THINK THAT EVER ENTERED HER MIND AS WELL AS ANY OF OUR MINDS. PETER: 35-YEAR-OLD ASHLI BABBI DIED FROM HER WOUNDS. BABBITT IS FROM CALIFORNIA, BUT HER HUSBAND IS FROM NORTH ATTLEBOR >> HER BROTHER-IN-LAW SHE SPENT YEARS SERVING IN THE AIR FORCE IN IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, AND KUWAIT. >> THE PLAN WAS TO GO OUT THERE AND CONDUCT A PEACEFUL PROTEST AND STATE HER POINT OF VIEWS AND SPEAK HER MIND AND INVOKE HER FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS THAT SHE PERSONALLY FOUGHT AND RISKED A LOT FOR WHILE SERVIN JOHN: PETER: BABBITT WAS A STAUNCH SUPPORTER OF PRESIDENT TRUMP, POSTING HER BELIEFS ON SOCIAL MEDI SHE FLEW TO D.C. TO RESIST THE CERTIFICATION OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE. >> SHE WAS A FIRM BELIEVER, AND WHAT MEANT MOST TO HER WAS THIS COUNTRY, AND FIGHTING FOR WHAT WAS RIGHT. AND I THINK IN HER EYES THAT’S WHAT SHE WAS DOING. PETER: THAT CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER WHO FIRED THE DEADLY SHOT WAS PUT ON LEAVE PENDING AN INVESTIGATION. THE FAMILY SAYS THEY

Video above: Family of Air Force veteran killed in US Capitol shooting speaks outFederal prosecutors will not charge a police officer who shot and killed a woman as she climbed through the broken part of a door during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.Authorities had considered for months whether criminal charges were appropriate for the Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego. The Justice Department’s decision, though expected, officially closes out the investigation.Prosecutors said they had reviewed video of the shooting, along with statements from the officer involved and other officers and witnesses, examined physical evidence from the scene and reviewed the autopsy results.“Based on that investigation, officials determined that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution,” the department said in a statement.Video clips posted online depict Babbitt, wearing a stars and stripes backpack, stepping up and beginning to go through the waist-high opening of an area of the Capitol known as the Speaker’s Lobby when a gunshot is heard. She falls backward. Another video shows other unidentified people attempting to lift Babbitt up. She can be seen slumping back to the ground.Prosecutors said Babbitt was part of the mob that was trying to get into the House as Capitol Police officers were evacuating members of Congress from the chamber. The officers used furniture to try to barricade the glass doors separating the hallway from the Speaker's Lobby to try to stave off the rioters, who kept trying to break through those doors, smashing the glass with flagpoles, helmets and other objects.At the same time, Babbitt tried climbing through one of the doors where the glass was broken out. A Capitol Police officer inside the Speaker's Lobby then fired a single round from his service weapon, striking Babbitt in the shoulder, prosecutors said.She fell to the ground before a police tactical team rushed into the area and gave first aid. Babbitt was later pronounced dead at a hospital.Babbitt is one of five people who died in or outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, including a police officer. Three other people died of medical emergencies.The Justice Department does not bring criminal charges in most police shootings it investigates in part because of the high burden for prosecution. Criminal charges were not expected in this case because videos of the shooting show Babbitt encroaching into a prohibited space, and second-guessing the actions of an officer during the violent and chaotic day would have been a challenge."Specifically, the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber," prosecutors said.

WASHINGTON —

Video above: Family of Air Force veteran killed in US Capitol shooting speaks out

Federal prosecutors will not charge a police officer who shot and killed a woman as she climbed through the broken part of a door during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Authorities had considered for months whether criminal charges were appropriate for the Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego. The Justice Department’s decision, though expected, officially closes out the investigation.

Prosecutors said they had reviewed video of the shooting, along with statements from the officer involved and other officers and witnesses, examined physical evidence from the scene and reviewed the autopsy results.

“Based on that investigation, officials determined that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution,” the department said in a statement.

Video clips posted online depict Babbitt, wearing a stars and stripes backpack, stepping up and beginning to go through the waist-high opening of an area of the Capitol known as the Speaker’s Lobby when a gunshot is heard. She falls backward. Another video shows other unidentified people attempting to lift Babbitt up. She can be seen slumping back to the ground.

Prosecutors said Babbitt was part of the mob that was trying to get into the House as Capitol Police officers were evacuating members of Congress from the chamber. The officers used furniture to try to barricade the glass doors separating the hallway from the Speaker's Lobby to try to stave off the rioters, who kept trying to break through those doors, smashing the glass with flagpoles, helmets and other objects.

At the same time, Babbitt tried climbing through one of the doors where the glass was broken out. A Capitol Police officer inside the Speaker's Lobby then fired a single round from his service weapon, striking Babbitt in the shoulder, prosecutors said.

She fell to the ground before a police tactical team rushed into the area and gave first aid. Babbitt was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Babbitt is one of five people who died in or outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, including a police officer. Three other people died of medical emergencies.

The Justice Department does not bring criminal charges in most police shootings it investigates in part because of the high burden for prosecution. Criminal charges were not expected in this case because videos of the shooting show Babbitt encroaching into a prohibited space, and second-guessing the actions of an officer during the violent and chaotic day would have been a challenge.

"Specifically, the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber," prosecutors said.

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