A witness to the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt told a local news station that the 35-year-old woman was shot by police after she “rushed to the windows” of the U.S. Capitol as officers told protesters to get back.
“We had stormed into the chambers inside and there was a young lady who rushed to the windows,” recalled the Trump supporter, a protester from New Jersey, according to WUSA 9 News.
“A number of people and Secret Service were saying get back, get down, get out of the way,” he said. “She didn’t heed the call, and as we sort of raced up to grab people and pull them back, they shot her in the neck.”
“She fell back on me and started saying she was fine, it’s cool,” the Trump supporter continued. “Then she started kinda moving weird and blood was coming out of her mouth and neck and nose. And I don’t know if she’s alive or dead anymore.”
When asked how he got back out of the building, the Trump supporter said “riot police” escorted those that breached the Capitol “out of the building.”
“We tore through the scaffolding and flash-bangs and teargas and blitzed our way in through all the chambers; just trying to get into Congress, or whoever we can get into to and tell them that we need some kind of investigation into this,” he recalled, referencing the 2020 presidential election.
“And what happened was someone might have ended up dead,” he added. “And that’s not the type of government we can have. People have to do something about it.”
WATCH:
Here a protestor explaining how he stormed in and the shooting. pic.twitter.com/VBHCLi2XQC
— slumpinandbumpin (@slumpinandbump1) January 6, 2021
According to the news report, Babbitt’s husband, Aaron Babbitt, saw graphic video clips of the incident and tried to get ahold of his wife, fearing it was her who was injured. Later, the victim was confirmed to be his wife.
Aaron said Babbitt, a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, went to D.C. to protest alone. He planned on picking her up later in the week.
The couple reportedly own a pool business together.
“The woman who was shot and killed inside the US Capitol during the protests was from the San Diego area,” California news station KUSI News reported Wednesday.
“The woman is Ashli [Babbitt], a 14-year veteran, who served four tours with the US Air Force, and was a high level security official throughout her time in service,” the report said. “Her husband says she was a strong supporter of President Trump, and was a great patriot to all who knew her.”
“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,” the victim reportedly tweeted the day before she was fatally shot, the New York Post reports.
“[Babbitt] took a fatal bullet to the chest during the mayhem inside the Capitol,” the Post report said. “Video footage captured the gunshot, as well as the woman crumpling to the floor. She was apparently shot by Capitol Police, law-enforcement sources told The Post.”