A day after Ashli Babbit, a U.S. Air Force veteran and President Donald Trump's supporter, was shot and killed during the Capitol Hill siege, a conspiracy theory claimed that she is "alive and well." A viral video had shown Babbit falling on the ground after being shot in the chest.
The hoax gained ground despite Babbit's husband Aaron confirming her identity to San Diego news outlet KUSI and said that she was a 14-year veteran and served four tours with Air Force as a "high-level security official." He also said that the deceased was an ardent supporter of Trump and "a great patriot to all who knew her."
Babbit 'Fake Death' Aimed to Fool People
The claim was first made in a video posted on Brighteon. It claimed that Babbit did not die after the shooting. The article began by informing readers that they were played. "Chalk one more for the DeepState. Sheeple will still believe whatever they are told," it went on. The QAnon official channel went on to justify its claim through a slow down and stop motion to claim that the Capital Police Officer swung his gun in a different direction before firing.
The report refuted the claims that Babbit was shot in the neck by powerful Glock .45 caliber, reasoning that being shot with a .45 cal. at close range would be messy with lots of blood gushing. The report noted that there was very little blood in the video.
"Ashli is Shot, these police immediately take control but NOT ONE removes clothing, Not one attempts to assess the wound, No tracheotomy, No CPR. What these police do is yell "Get Back" even when a "citizen medic" offers," read the claim further.
Lin Wood's Post Fuels Bizarre Claim
The hoax further gained momentum after a user name LLin Wood, shared the article on his Parler account. Wood, a defamation lawyer and supporter of Trump, was permanently banned from Twitter after his tweets spreading conspiracy theories about the presidential election in the wake of the Capitol Hill siege.
"Several people have sent me screen shots of Ashli Babbitt's Twitter page. Below you will see that it appears Ms. Babbitt retweeted my tweet the day she was shot, 1/6. It appears to be her last post before her death," he wrote.
LLin Wood continued: "She had 1,915 Followers. On her Twitter account the last retweet at the top is dated 1/5. Ms. Babbitt had 20,800 Followers. She lost 18,885 Followers in less than one day. Does this strike you as extraordinarily odd or is it just me? So you think my retweet was conveniently photoshopped by someone to try to link my tweet to her trip to DC?" wrote the user.
Soon there were several others who were talking about the possibility of Babbit being alive. "Lin Wood posted on Parler that Ashli Babbit was a false flag and she's still alive. Here's the evidence......decide for yourself," tweeted a user.
"Was Wednesday's Capital shooting of Ashli Babbit staged? Is she still alive? Watch this video and decide for yourself. Also check @llinwood 's Parler acct for interesting commentary," wrote another.
