Dead at Capitol storming include Air Force vet
The woman who was fatally shot when a mob supporting President Donald Trump stormed the U. S. Capitol was identified by authorities Thursday as Ashli Babbitt, whose family described her as an Air Force veteran and avid supporter of Trump and his efforts to stay in office.
A U. S. Capitol Police officer on Wednesday shot Babbitt, who later died at a hospital. The shooting occurred as thousands of rioters forced their way into the House chamber, where members of Congress were hiding, according to Steven A. Sund, chief of the Capitol Police.
He said ri oters “actively attacked” Capitol police and other law enforcement officers with metal pipes, discharged chemical irritants and “took up other weapons against our officers.” The scene was “unlike any I have ever experienced in my 30 years in law enforcement here in Washington, D. C.,” Sund said in a statement.
District of Columbia police later identified the three people who had medical emergencies and died during the storming of the Capitol.
They are 55- year- old Kevin Greeson, of Athens, Alabama; 34- year- old Rosanne Boyland, of Kennesaw, Georgia; and 50- year- old Benjamin Philips, of
Ringtown, Pennsylvania.
Police Chief Robert Contee would not go into detail about the exact causes of their deaths and would not say if any of the three was actively involved in breaching the Capitol building on Wednesday.
Contee would only say that all three “were on the grounds of the Capitol when they experienced their medical emergencies.”
Ashli Babbitt’s husband, Aaron Babbitt, told KSWB- TV, a Fox affiliate in San Diego, that he and his wife, 35, live in San Diego and that she was in Washington on Wednesday to support Trump. Aaron Babbitt sent his wife a message about 30 minutes before the shooting and never heard back.
“She loved her country and she was doing what she thought was right to support her country, joining up with like- minded people that also love their president and their country,” he told the news station.
A Twitter account under Babbitt’s name identifies her as a veteran, Libertarian and supporter of the Second Amendment. She frequently retweeted comments by the president and his supporters about Wednesday ’s gathering and their discredited claims of election fraud. Her last comment, posted Friday, read, “Jan 6, 2021” with American flag and thumbs- up emojis.
Babb it routinely retweeted accounts supporting the Q- Anon conspiracy theory, and featured hashtags in her own tweets used by believers in the made-up notion that D. C. elites maintain a ring of sex- trafficked children.
The Twitter account also included news of a recall effort against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, including an endorsement by Kevin Faulconer, a former San Diego mayor.
Ashli Elizabeth McEntee is chief executive officer of Fowlers Pool Service & Supply Inc. in Spring Valley, California, near San Diego, according to California secretary of state business records. The company’s chief financial officer is Aaron Raymond Babbitt, her husband.
Babbitt ’s ex- husband, Timothy McEntee, called her a “wonderful woman with a big heart and a strong mind” in an email to San Diego Union- Tribune. McEntee said he and Babbitt were married from April 2005 to May 2019.
A Facebook account with Babbitt’s name says she married Aaron Babbitt on June 25, 2019, and identifies her employer as Fowlers Pool Service.
The Air Force said Thursday that Ashli Elizabeth McEntee was on active duty from 2004 to 2008, most recently at Dyes Air Force Base near Abilene, Texas. She was also member of the Air Force Reserve from 2008 to 2010 and the Air National Guard from 2010 to 2016.
In a family statement emailed from his wife Kristi, the family described Greeson as a supporter of President Donald Trump but maintained he was not there to participate in the rioting inside the Capitol. The family said they are devastated by the loss.
“Kevin was an advocate of President Trump and attended the event on January 6, 2020 to show his support. He was excited to be there to experience this event — he was not there to participate in violence or rioting, nor did he condone such actions,” the family said.
An account featuring a profile photo of Greeson and his name became more active after the election on Parler, a social media platform favored by some Trump supporters. A week ago, it echoed a message by a militia group and added: “I’m in.. call me I have guns and ammo!”
“Kevin was a wonderful father and husband who loved life. He loved to ride motorcycles, he loved his job and his coworkers, and he loved his dogs,” the family’s statement said.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that 50- year- old Benjamin Philips drove to D. C. in a van along with Trump- related memorabilia he had produced. The Inquirer and the Bloomsburg Press Enterprise both spoke with Philips before the rally.
He was a web developer and founder of Trumparoo, a social media site for supporters of President Donald Trump. His profile on the site said he was organizing a bus from the Bloomsburg area to go to the rally and expressed anger at Democratic officials and moderate Republicans.
The Inquirer reports that members of his group say they last saw Philips around 10: 30 a. m. Wednesday, and that he did not show up to meet them for a 6 p. m. departure. They learned from police that he had died and had a somber ride back to Pennsylvania.
Philips told the Bloomsburg Press Enterprise on Tuesday that people from other states were staying at his home. He said, “My ‘ hostel’ is already full.”