Prosecutors: No charges against officer in fatal shooting

WASHINGTON >> Federal prosecutors will not charge the 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, the 35-yearold Air Force veteran from San Diego. The Justice Department’s decision, though expected, officially closes 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 the 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. 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 pronounced dead at a hospital.