Two more D.C. police officers involved in Jan. 6 protest said to die by suicide

by WorldTribune Staff, August 3, 2021

Two more law enforcement officers who responded to the Jan. 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol have committed suicide, reports say.

Gunther Hashida, 43, who was detailed to the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) Emergency Response Team, an outfit in its Special Operations Division, “was found deceased in his residence on Thursday, July 29,” the MPD said in a statement.

Gunther Hashida, left, and Kyle DeFreytag

A GoFundMe fundraising page states that Hashida left behind a wife and three children. It didn’t elaborate on what may have driven him to end his own life.

WUSA-TV is reporting that Officer Kyle DeFreytag died last month, but the notice that he was the fourth officer from the riot to die by his own hand came only hours after the MPD’s statement on Hashida.

DeFreytag, 26, was assigned in the city’s 5th District and was on duty at the Capitol to enforce curfew violations, a statement from the police department said. He had responded to the Capitol events that day and worked a later shift, positioned outside the Capitol.

Metropolitan Police Chief Robert J. Contee III sent a message to the police force notifying personnel of DeFreytag’s death last month, explaining, “I am writing to share tragic news that Officer Kyle DeFreytag of the 5th District was found deceased last evening. This is incredibly hard news for us all, and for those that knew him best.”

Washington police officer Jeffrey Smith reportedly committed suicide in the aftermath of the Capitol breach, officials disclosed later in January. And U.S. Capitol Police officer Howard Liebengood reportedly killed himself on Jan. 10.

“You can’t tell me that’s just a coincidence,” World Net Daily quoted Trump supporter Lauren Witzke as saying. Witzke made headlines herself in June when Wells Fargo mysteriously canceled her bank account without warning and explanation.

“They are either overwhelmed with guilt or were about to release information about the federal government & intelligence agency’s involvement,” she added. “Don’t be fooled, something here is very, very wrong.”

WND added, that “some commenters online are openly questioning the statements that the officers killed themselves”, with some saying:

• “Suicide or suicided???”
• “Or they were actually murdered which is what usually happens when people are going to blow the whistle.”
• “That is too far out of the statistical [likelihood] to be ignored. These men being suicided have families; families which the coup d’etat participants don’t give two squirts about.”
• “Suicide my a**. They’ve been Clinton’d.”


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