The woman, who was shot and killed in the Capitol when President Donald Trump's supporters stormed into the building and clashed with police, has been identified as a US Air Force veteran from San Diego. Ashli Babbit was shot in the chest on Wednesday afternoon after chaos broke out when dozens of Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol breaching security parameters.
Babbit died hours later in a city hospital. Babbitt can be seen falling on the ground after being shot in the chest in a dramatic video that has been posted on social media and has since gone viral. The video shows Babbit being shot from outside a broken window with at least four uniformed officers pointing guns at her.
Tragic Death
Babbit's identity was confirmed by her husband, Aaron, to San Diego news outlet KUSI, who 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 Babbit was an ardent supporter of Trump and 'a great patriot to all who knew her', KUSI reported.
The family is still in trauma and can't believe that Babbitt is dead. "I'm numb. I'm devastated. Nobody from DC notified my son and we found out on TV," Aaron's mother, Robin Babbitt, told The New York Post. The day before Babbit was fatally shot in the Capitol, she had tweeted, "Nothing will stop us.... they can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours....dark to light."
It remains unclear who shot Babbit as the Metropolitan Police Department in DC conducts an investigation into her death. However, it is believed that she was shot by one of the on-duty officers according to video footages obtained by investigators.
Dead for Trump
Family members said that Babbit would go to any extent to support Trump and had planned in advance to join the protests at the Capitol. However, they never imagined that she would end up giving her life in support of Trump.
Babbit, who used the Twitter handle CommonAshSense, also retweeted Wednesday morning — a few hours ahead of her and other Trump supporters storming the Capitol — a "MUST BE DONE LIST before Congress meets today."
Babbit who was shot in the chest was climbing a broken window after storming into the Capitol. However, no one expected that police would open fire on the protesters. Video footage captured the sound of the gunshot, and showed Babbit collapsing on the floor from multiple angles.
Babbit reportedly was warned by another of the protesters John Sullivan, who captured the video, not to go inside the building after he saw police pointing guns at them. '"Right when I saw that I was yelling to people: "Guys, there are guns, you don't want to go through there. They're going to shoot."'
Babbit ignored Sullivan's plea and went ahead anyway, he said. "The second that she climbed through the window, she got shot right in the neck area and fell backwards," Sullivan said.
Police is yet to provide any information or the name of the officer who open fired. Babbit had traveled to Washington DC from her home in California without her husband. Her mother-in-law told the outlet: 'I really don't know why she decided to do this.'
