Rioter is shot dead in chaos
An Air Force vet from California who tweeted a day earlier that “nothing will stop us” and “the storm is here,” was shot and killed after breaching the Capitol Wednesday.
Ashli Babbitt, who served for 14 years, was married and lived near San Diego, her husband, Aaron, told KUSI-TV.
“I’m numb. I’m devastated. Nobody from DC notified my son, and we found out on TV,” the husband’s mother, Robin Babbitt, told The Post, saying of her daughter-in-law, “She is a Trump supporter.”
Everything is “pretty surreal,” added Aaron’s brother, Justin. “It’s hard, because we haven’t been officially notified.”
On the day before she was shot, apparently by Capitol Police, Ashli Babbitt tweeted, “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.”
Babbitt, who used the Twitter handle CommonAshSense, also retweeted Wednesday morning, a few hours before she and other Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, a “MUST BE DONE LIST before Congress meets today.”
It included, “Mike Pence@vp @Mike_Pence must resign & thereafter be charged with TREASON,” and, “Chief Justice John Roberts must RESIGN.”
Video footage shows Babbitt climbing through a broken window to get around a barricaded door leading to congressional chambers that are restricted to the public. There are police on guard down the hall on the other side. A gunshot is heard and Babbitt crumples to the floor.
She was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she was declared dead.
In response to a tweet Monday by conservative author Melissa Tate that read, “Landing in DC. Here to do God’s work. Save the Republic,” Babbitt said, “I will be there tomorrow! Gods speed!”
On Tuesday, Babbitt retweeted TV footage of a pro-Trump crowd amassing in DC before Wednesday’s riot.
Robin Babbitt told a Fox affiliate in DC that she was puzzled by Ashli’s behavior.
Fox reporter Lindsay Watts quoted Babbitt as saying, “I really don’t know why she decided to do this.”
Meanwhile, three other people reportedly died as a result of medical emergencies amid the siege.