by WorldTribune Staff, February 25, 2021
Nearly two months later, authorities continue to refuse to identify the U.S. Capitol Police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt inside the Capitol building on Jan. 6.
Now, Paul Sperry of RealClearInvestigations reports that the unidentified officer “has gone into hiding.”
Sources told Sperry that the officer “worries about reports that some of those arrested in the riots have declared ‘open (hunting) season’ on whoever killed Babbitt, now a martyr in their cause. Twitter accounts have been created in her name, including ‘We Are Ashli Babbitt’ and ‘Justice For Ashli Babbitt.’ ”
“An unarmed American patriot was murdered in cold blood! We need to know who murdered #AshliBabbitt!” proclaimed one recent post.
Based on interviews with sources, and available documents, Sperry noted that RealClearInvestigations “has put together a portrait of the actual shooter and the shooting, which some describe as completely justified and others call murder.”
Related: Licensed to kill? The life and times of U.S. Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, February 5, 2021
The plainclothes officer who opened fire on Babbitt “holds the rank of lieutenant and is a longtime veteran of the force who worked protective detail in the Speaker’s Lobby, a highly restricted area behind the House chamber,” sources told Sperry. “An African-American, he was put on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation led by the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia, which shares jurisdiction with the Capitol Police. The Justice Department is also involved in the inquiry.”
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the officer has been interviewed and cleared of criminal wrongdoing by a preliminary investigation, suggesting that the police killing may soon be ruled justifiable homicide. But D.C. Police spokeswoman Alaina Gertz told RealClearInvestigations, “This case remains under active investigation.”
A security firm CEO, firearms instructor in New York and Virginia for more than 25 years wrote in an analysis for WorldTribune.com that he was concerned about the precedent established by the shooting.
Upon reading that the officer “who shot Ashli Babbitt, the unarmed protestor at the capitol on January 6th, may not be charged, I have to wonder if this will provide a ‘license to kill’ for all police officers who are faced with an angry conservative protester,” he wrote.
Video footage filmed by those who entered the Capitol building shows the officer taking up a defensive position in a doorway, then carefully aiming and shooting Babbitt as she tries to climb through a smashed window beside a barricaded double door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby. Babbitt, 35, had no weapon. She died later at a hospital. The decorated Air Force veteran, had traveled to D.C. from San Diego.
Sperry noted: “Dressed in a dark suit and white shirt with cufflinks, along with a beaded bracelet on his right shooting hand, the Capitol Police officer fired at her from the side of the barricade, where he had been hidden from view in a doorway. At least from what can be seen and heard from the video, he appears to issue no commands to stop nor any verbal warning that he would shoot.”
Jack Feeley, a fellow Air Force vet and friend of Babbitt, said: “That was an execution,” adding that it “breaks my heart to know millions of people watched my friend be executed on live television.”
The security firm CEO outlined other relevant background information about the shooting in his analysis for WorldTribune.com:
Universally, for anyone to legally use lethal force, both citizens and police officers, one must be in fear of their life from the use of imminent lethal force being used against themselves, or a third party (meaning someone other than themselves).
Were the officers on the other side of the wall in danger of the use of lethal force from Ms. Babbitt? Did they observe that she had a weapon and was capable of using it against them? Did she pose any danger to them at all? Why was it necessary for the officer to use lethal force against Ms. Babbitt?
After the shooting, there have been reports that the officer’s social media page showed a clear bias toward whites and in support of Black Lives Matter. If so, questions of whether the officer used lethal force with prejudice need to be addressed.
Before I saw the video, I believe that the officer must have fired accidentally (unintentional some call it) as numerous pictures surfaced showing police officers holding the firearms with their fingers on the trigger (not a safe practice as anyone who has ever taken a class in the use of firearms knows well).
Subsequently, several videos emerged and one clearly shows the officer stepping forward, aiming, and pulling the trigger intentionally. This was absolutely unbelievable. He moved forward, aimed, and shot an individual on the other side of the wall, who posed no threat of the use of deadly force against himself or of any of the other officers on the side of the wall with himself. Incredible.
Mark Schamel, the attorney representing the unidentified officer, told RealClearInvestigations that his client did warn Babbitt and other rioters to keep back.
“It’s a false narrative that he issued no verbal commands or warnings,” Schamel said.
Sperry noted that Schamel is a Joe Biden donor who also happens to represent Igor Danchenko, the “primary subsource” of the discredited Steele dossier on Donald Trump.
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Report: Officer who killed Ashli Babbitt has gone into hiding added by World Tribune on
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