WASHINGTON – During the four-and-a-half-hour attack on the Capitol on January 6, one of the moments when the crowd approached the lawmakers they were chasing occurred just after 2:30 pm
On one side of a set of old wooden and glass doors were dozens of lawmakers and their advisers trying to evacuate the Chamber’s chamber.
On the other, protesters shouting “Stop stealing” while hammering on the windows with a mast, a helmet and even a bare fist.
In the middle was a lieutenant from the Capitol Police, struggling to stack tables and chairs on an improvised barricade. He had 31 cartridges as a service weapon and told others he feared he would need them all.
At the height of the impasse, a woman named Ashli Babbitt tried to jump out of a window. The lieutenant, with the gun already extended, pulled the trigger once, killing her in a confrontation that was captured on video and widely seen around the world.
At least three investigations into the security response on January 6 are ongoing, and authorities have not provided all the details of Babbitt’s death.
But the videos made of the episode, legal documents and witness accounts point to a terrible set of circumstances and an officer went out to face a crowd. The officer, a lieutenant who has not been publicly identified, has been placed on administrative leave while his actions are analyzed by federal authorities.
The use of lethal force by police officers is considered legally justified if they have an “objectively reasonable” fear of serious and imminent harm to themselves or others. Several police officers said the video of the meeting was not enough to give an opinion on the shooting. But interviews with two people with direct knowledge of the policeman’s report suggest that he will argue that he acted to protect lawmakers from harm.
“I could look them in the eye,” said Representative Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, who chaired the speaker ‘s seat and was one of the last to leave when the crowd tried to break down the doors. “I mean, they were so close.”
He added: “I don’t even know what would have happened if they had breached that area.”
Babbitt’s husband Aaron told a Fox affiliate on the day of the riot that he saw his wife die on the news.
“She had no weapon with her, I don’t know why she had to die at the People’s House,” he said, adding: “She was expressing her opinion and was killed for it.”
He did not respond to an email requesting comments. One of Babbitt’s brothers, contacted by phone, declined to comment.
Mrs. Babbitt was one of five people who lost their lives on the Capitol that day. A Capitol policeman was overpowered and beaten by rioters. A Georgian woman appears to have been killed in a crowd of other protesters. One man had a stroke and the other a heart attack.
The lieutenant learned on the news that Trump supporters like Babbitt would converge on Washington, according to his report. But the first time the protests were discussed at work came only when he arrived early in the morning; according to his account, he had received no prior planning to contain a violent rebellion or an invasion of the building.
That afternoon, the House and Senate were in session, with hundreds of legislators debating the challenges to certifying the Electoral College’s vote when the crowd struggled to get past the lines of Capitol police outside and forced their way into the building. Some said they just wanted to stop the process while others carried weapons, climbing equipment and snares that could be used as restraints.
The crowd was peppered with far-right nationalists, military veterans and members of the militia, and supporters of a dangerous conspiracy. The protesters launched invective against the police and called them traitors while threatening to kill former Vice President Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi, the Mayor.
The lieutenant, a veteran officer, was regularly assigned to the Speaker Hall, a closed corridor and waiting area in the inner sanctuary of the Capitol, where access is highly restricted. The lobby is just behind the Chamber of Deputies and is lined with portraits of the previous leaders of the Chamber. It is bordered by two sets of old wooden doors with windows, one on the Democratic side and one on the Republican side.
Around 2:15 pm, the lieutenant heard on the radio that the Capitol had been violated, according to his account.
Mrs. Pelosi was escorted out of the chamber, but so little was known about the situation at that moment that she left her phone behind on the dais as if she were going to return soon, McGovern recalled.
At 2:30 pm, a crowd including Mrs. Babbitt passed the Capitol Rotunda and the Hall of Statues. At that moment, they were calm, even though they were inside a catwalk defined by velvet ropes. But as they advanced towards the northern doors of the House, they became aggressive, shouting, “Take it down.”
“Hey guys, I have a knife,” a person in the crowd can be heard saying.
These doors had been secured from the inside with furniture, and three plainclothes policemen right inside the chamber drew their weapons.
On the ground, the process was interrupted repeatedly while the leaders were led outside.
“You could hear people screaming outside the camera doors and knocking on the door,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat.
But no one on the House side has yet to understand the size of the crowd or the gravity of the situation, McGovern said.
Seeking another path to the Chamber of Deputies, part of the crowd, including Babbitt, stepped away and headed for the Democratic side of the speaker’s lobby.
They were heading straight for the passage used to evacuate the floor of the Chamber. Dozens of lawmakers and advisers, according to witness estimates, were being led through doors on the Republican side of the chamber to the president’s lobby. It was a slow group that had to funnel into a narrow staircase.
When Mr. McGovern reached the hall, he turned and saw the barricade of overturned furniture and the scene beyond.
“I could see the angry crowd hitting the glass and several policemen sandwiched between the crowd and the doors,” he said. “That’s when I realized that it was more than just a few people.”
He added: “You ask me to describe the evil – that was how it looked. I mean, these people look crazy. And I mean, they were not here to make a political point. They were here to destroy things. “
On guard outside the doors were three Capitol police officers. The crowd threw insults at them and punched the glass just inches from their heads. To the right, at the top of a ladder, was a man in a suit with a headset, identified by a person familiar with Congressional security as an unarmed member of the House’s sergeant-at-arms team.
Near the front was Mrs. Babbitt, 35, who served 14 years in the Air Force and was an enthusiastic supporter of President Donald J. Trump. His social media feed was full of QAnon conspiracy theories.
A man in the crowd, David Charles Mish Jr. of Wisconsin, told an investigator later that Mrs. Babbitt was telling the police: “Just open the door. They will not stop ”, according to a sworn statement.
Inside the doors was the lieutenant, who, according to his account, had trained to deal with an active sniper, but never in a scenario like this, where the Capitol was being invaded by a large number of people. Reinforcement requests and reports from the officers involved punctuated radio traffic.
Since the beginning of the rape, protesters have used bear spray, batons, pipes and fire extinguishers against police officers. When the lieutenant thought he heard on the radio that shots had been fired, according to his account, he positioned himself on a threshold on one side of the corridor, spotting anyone trying to get through the glass doors.
With lawmakers slowly draining the other end of the corridor, those doors became a strategic bottleneck.
The policeman, according to his account, could not see the three uniformed policemen outside and did not know they were there – he just described seeing a corridor full of approaching people. The three officers had no visible shields or riot gear – two of them did not even wear hats.
According to the lieutenant’s report, he did not know who among the rioters, if anyone, was armed. He also couldn’t see how far the crowd was in the hall.
The lieutenant was also unaware, said those informed of his report, that a tactical Capitol Police team was climbing the ladder after Babbitt, with the intention of reinforcing the area and cleaning up the protesters.
When the team arrived, one of the three guard officers said, “They are ready to roll.”
The officers moved away from their post, leaving the doors unprotected for a crucial 30 seconds.
“Go! Come on!” someone shouted when some protesters renewed their attack on the glass. They continued to hammer, shaking the doors in their jambs.
Several members of the crowd were identified and arrested by the FBI. They include Christopher Ray Grider, a central Texas winery owner who is accused of trying to kick doors and providing a black helmet used to break windows, and Chad Barrett Jones of Coxs Creek, Ky., Accused of breaking windows with a flagpole.
As they went, they had a clear view of the lieutenant on the other side, who was raising his .40 caliber Glock gun.
“There is a gun!” “He has a gun!” people screamed.
In the middle of the action, a man wielding his helmet broke the window in front of Mrs. Babbitt. A few seconds later, someone tried to push it away. She wore a Trump flag around her neck like a cape and a backpack over it.
While Mrs. Babbitt was being lifted, the lieutenant fired a single shot. It fell backwards, hitting the hard floor. There was no evidence that she was armed.
Since Babbitt’s death, extreme right-wing extremists and white supremacists have claimed her as a martyr and “freedom fighter”, even reproducing her image on flags and with anti-Semitic images. Many demanded the disclosure of the name of the officer who shot her.
Mr McGovern said that any loss of life is tragic. But he praised the Capitol Police as heroes, noting that no member of Congress or his team was harmed. “I think he and others showed a lot of restraint on this whole thing,” he said of the lieutenant.
The shooting ended attempts to break open doors. The police tried to repel the rioters and give Mrs. Babbitt medical help.
A member of the tactical team tried to stop his bleeding by pressing on his left shoulder as blood dripped from his mouth and nose.
Outside the Capitol, news of the shooting began to spread, helping to fuel the crowd’s anger.
Adam Goldman reported from Washington, and Shaila Dewan of New York. Evan Hill contributed reports from Madison, Wis., Malachy Browne of New York and Luke Broadwater of Washington. Videos of Dmitriy Khavin and Meg Felling.