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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBut How Could Ashli Babbitt Have Known Climbing Through Broken Window To Attack Congress Was Wrong?
Link to tweet
https://www.wonkette.com/officer-who-shot-ashli-babbitt-talks-insurrection-barricades-and-threatened-beheadings
On Thursday night, NBC's Lester Holt interviewed Lt. Michael Byrd, the Capitol Police officer who fired the shot that killed insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt. Byrd has been fully exonerated by both the Justice Department and the Capitol Police, largely because he did not actually do anything wrong.
"The investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber," federal prosecutors said in a statement.
As horrible as it is for anyone to die in this manner, Babbitt was literally climbing through the broken window of a barricaded door during an attempted violent overthrow of the United States Congress and Byrd, who had never fired his weapon on the job before in his 28-year career as a police officer, was trying to protect members of Congress from potentially being killed. They didn't barricade the door for funsies.
Lt. Byrd explained to Holt his perspective of what was going on that day. He'd been hearing reports of violence over the radio from his colleagues, reports of pipe bombs, of an officer getting their fingertips blown off. He rushed to help members of Congress hide, telling them to remove their pins so they might pass as staff, to reduce the chances of getting killed by the mob. He and other officers barricaded the door to the lobby with whatever was available desks, chairs, etc.
*snip*
MaryMagdaline
(6,854 posts)Pelosi and Pence
Fortinbras Armstrong
(4,473 posts)Grokenstein
(5,722 posts)"Police literally invited these unarmed peaceful protesters inside and then ambushed them!! Ashli the Angel just wanted to put daisies in their gun barrels!!! (fart fart fart)"
uponit7771
(90,335 posts)Effete Snob
(8,387 posts)I'd have kept shooting until the barrel melted.
doc03
(35,328 posts)to break down the doors. That seemed to be the turning point when they finally got the message.
Traildogbob
(8,731 posts)Right in the red hat.
CrispyQ
(36,461 posts)This was posted when it came out in June, but it's worth posting again. The video is 40 minutes & is a compilation of video collected from that day, from various sources. They include a map of the Capitol grounds with graphics of where the rioters were & where they breached the building. It's so worth the 40 minutes to watch the entire video. I noted some key events, below, including when Ashli Babbitt got shot. She was clearly warned not to proceed.
No paywall for this NTY INSURRECTION VIDEO REPORT, released June 30, 2021
Day of Rage: An In-Depth Look at How a Mob Stormed the Capitol
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000007606996/capitol-riot-trump-supporters.html
=====
8:55 - Map of the outside of the Capitol Building & where the rioters were gathering.
14:14 - Floor plan of inside of Capitol Building & then fans out to the entire grounds.
19:17 - Floor plan of Senate side of Capitol Building. Rioters have broken into the Capitol building by this point.
20:44 - Officer Goodman lures the rioters away from an unguarded door & into a line of fellow officers.
21:33 - Layout of the Rotunda & Crypt & House side of the Capitol Building.
22:22 - A copy of the tweet Trump sent out at 2:24pm as the Capitol Building was being stormed by angry MAGA.
22:50 - Rioters breach the other side of the Capitol Building & look for House chambers.
27:16 - Ashli Babbitt arrives at the place where she will be shot.
28:20 - Ashli Babbitt is shot trying to breach the House chamber.
29:49 - Map of outside Capitol Building & where the crowd is. Continues into stunning footage of how the police were overwhelmed, & calls for backup were ignored.
33:00 - "Law respecting" trumpers beating police as they storm the Capitol Building.
34:06 - Trumpers trample one of their own, after she collapses & her friend's cries for help are ignored.
34:55 - Map of the Capitol Building & an overview of all the places it was breached. If you don't watch any other part of this report, watch this. It shows the scope of the breach.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,001 posts)SergeStorms
(19,200 posts)it's never been more obvious that these Trump cult members were nothing more than tourists, who were treating the Capitol Police and the Capitol Halls as respectfully and and dignified as possible.
burrowowl
(17,640 posts)JudyM
(29,236 posts)Still astonishing.
Botany
(70,501 posts)... violent overthrow of the United States."
displacedtexan
(15,696 posts)And there would've been a blood bath.
Botany
(70,501 posts)I might be blood thirsty but they should have shot more of them they were trying to violently
overthrow the US Government so Trump could declare martial law and stay in power. You can
notice after they shot Babbit the MAGAs fell back PDQ.
yardwork
(61,599 posts)In the videos I saw it looked like she couldn't wait to attack.
SergeStorms
(19,200 posts)They were told repeatedly to stop, to not go any further. They knew guns were pointed at them, and they should have taken that as a sign that the Officers would use them.
Babbit was a belligerent idiot, with nothing but evil intent in mind. She paid for her stupidity with her life. Oh well.
If you're blood thirsty, so am I, and so are the majority of law abiding citizens. Many Black people have paid with their lives for far, far less.
Sneederbunk
(14,290 posts)Nevilledog
(51,094 posts)elias7
(3,997 posts)StClone
(11,683 posts)Surely they are coming for all 'em, especially the loud posting warnings.
Cha
(297,196 posts)GemDigger
(4,305 posts)and she climbed through anyway.
robertpaulsen
(8,632 posts)Vdizzle
(383 posts)***Changed your question into a true statement.
MyOwnPeace
(16,926 posts)smacking Senator Bonehead every time he sees him in those hallowed halls?
I honestly don't know how I could ever face half of those liars, let alone try to 'protect' them from other 'tourists.'
bottomofthehill
(8,329 posts)He acted heroically on 1/6 and has acted professionally ever since. Lt Byrd made an extremely difficult decision to take a life in defense of others. He also made that decision so that others with less training did not have to. He has had to live with the consequences of his decision, I believe the right one, but still extremely painful. Watch the video, look at his body language and listen to him when talking about the shooting.
He did his job, his sworn duty to protect others.
MyOwnPeace
(16,926 posts)and showing even MORE courage to go on national TV and discuss his actions - especially after the Insurrectional General (IQ45) has put a bounty on him - and you KNOW what some of his 'loyal loons' are capable of doing......
But I would find it terribly hard NOT to smack some of those "just tourists" preachers 'one-up-side-the-head!'
bottomofthehill
(8,329 posts)ffr
(22,669 posts)They went to kill. They should suffer the penalties for their adult actions.
ashredux
(2,605 posts)Beartracks
(12,809 posts)NoMoreRepugs
(9,417 posts)the SlobFather as POTUS - it's not outside the realm of possibility. Thank you Lt. Byrd for defending our Democracy.
durablend
(7,460 posts)Doesn't everyone go breaking windows when they visit places?
displacedtexan
(15,696 posts)to repair just the physical damage to the Capitol. The emotional damage can never be repaired unless punishment is dealt swiftly and severely by our justice system.
XanaDUer2
(10,662 posts)she slipped through to un-barricade the door and let them flood in for mayhem.
Once he shot her, they calmed down
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)security would be inside. She also had time to consider her action while two capitol police officers
tried to hold the doors against a horde in the hallway. Footage shows her walking around calmly. Sorry she was brainwashed and troubled, but Lt. Byrds job was not to give her therapy but to protect lives inside carrying out one of the most important duties in our democracy.
displacedtexan
(15,696 posts)Entitlement sometimes meets Justice.
uponit7771
(90,335 posts)Mr. Evil
(2,841 posts)"I Got First! I Got First!"
Stupid, insurrectionist, dead traitor idiot.
struggle4progress
(118,282 posts)with a rioting mob behind you, any normal Trump supporter would think, "Cool! He totally supports what you're doing!"
Slammer
(714 posts)Yeah, I think having a police officer aiming his gun at her and warning her "not or do it or he'd shoot her" should have given her a clue that her behavior wasn't socially acceptable.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)capping a bunch more. To defend themselves or a third person from the use or imminent use of deadly physical force .
Demobrat
(8,976 posts)If she had made it through and others had followed it would have been a major bloodbath. Im still sort of surprised the mob didnt just step over her body and keep on coming. And nobody fired back.
The canary died and the mob backed off. Almost seems like a miracle.
yardwork
(61,599 posts)Bullies are the first to run crying to the teacher when somebody finally stands up to them.
mountain grammy
(26,620 posts)in their eyes courage is a 17 year old with an assault rifle murdering peaceful unarmed protesters. Sickening.
Mr.Bill
(24,284 posts)the rest of them would have ran down the street screaming like children.
luckone
(21,646 posts)Ignore the fox video but listen to her own words while driving to DC
Link to tweet
Her kind meet up friends
Link to tweet
?s=21
NickB79
(19,236 posts)drmeow
(5,017 posts)One less worthless human contributing to the destruction of this planet and the destruction of this country.
spanone
(135,830 posts)ZonkerHarris
(24,223 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)murder upon Pelosi, Schumer, and Pence among others and declare Trump the permanent President ? Weren't we all raised to attack police and call them racist names too ?
We weren't ?
*sarcasm alert*
dvan
(79 posts)Win big kid prizes.
AllaN01Bear
(18,191 posts)Blue Owl
(50,356 posts)IcyPeas
(21,866 posts)Isn't that what "they" say.
drmeow
(5,017 posts)stand your ground, even for officer's in uniform protecting US government officials from treasonous insurrectionists, only applies to WHITE people standing their ground against NON-WHITE people!
uponit7771
(90,335 posts)appleannie1
(5,067 posts)And it was right wing politicians that wrote and passed those laws. So I am quite sure Ashli knew the possibilities before she took it upon herself to climb through that window. Ask and ye shall receive.
keithbvadu2
(36,788 posts)Before naming him, the right wingers were intimating it would be a racial thing.
How is that working out on the extreme right?
LittleGirl
(8,287 posts)He did what had to be done. I fear for his safety.
Martin68
(22,794 posts)bucolic_frolic
(43,146 posts)I don't see why this is any different. Insurrectionists violated the sovereignty of the United States by attacking its Congress.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,106 posts)BUT, I wish a LOT of them had encountered the same resistance as Babbitt. And the same fate. There should be consequences for your actions.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,490 posts)in broad daylight and no one would care might just have something to do with that attitude.
There are numerous inflammatory dog whistles found in tRump's 1/6 speech here that likely caused all the furor:
Donald Trump Speech Save America Rally Transcript January 6 (*)
Link: https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-speech-save-america-rally-transcript-january-6
(*) Warning: Reading this transcript may cause you to lose your lunch!