Black Cop that Killed an unarmed White Ashli Babbitt on Jan 6 Protests Says "I was Doing My Job"

 

Michael Byrd the Murderer

Ashli Babbitt the victim

The veteran US Capitol Police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 riot defended his actions Thursday, telling NBC News that “I was doing my job” and insisting that Babbitt was a threat to lawmakers and congressional staff on that fateful day.

Lt. Michael Byrd came forward days after he was exonerated from any wrongdoing in Babbitt’s death by an internal use-of-force probe.

The 28-year veteran shot Babbitt, an Air Force veteran and devotee of the QAnon conspiracy theory, as she attempted to enter the Speaker’s Lobby via a broken door. The officer told NBC News’ Lester Holt that seconds before he fired his weapon, he had been screaming at Babbitt and her fellow rioters to “please stop” and “get back.”

“You’re ultimately hoping that your commands will be complied with,” Byrd said, “and unfortunately, they were not.”

When Holt asked Byrd what he thought Babbitt was doing when he shot her, the officer responded bluntly: “She was posing a threat to the House of Representatives.”

Byrd also shed more light on the chaos of the day.

At one point, he recalled, an incorrect report that gunshots had been fired into the House chamber came over his radio.

“I was very afraid,” Byrd said. “I’m hearing about the breaches of different barricaded areas, officers being overrun, officers being down.”

Despite the hours-long rampage — which included running battles between police and rioters — Babbitt was the only person who was killed on Jan. 6.

Three other Trump supporters died after suffering medical emergencies. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died the day after the riot following a pair of strokes and at least four other law enforcement officers who responded to the Capitol that day have taken their own lives in the months since.

“I’m sure it was a terrifying situation,” Byrd told Holt when asked why no other officers shot at the rioters that day. “I can only control my reaction, my training, my level of expertise. That would be upon them to speak for themselves.”

Trump earlier this month said that Babbitt was “murdered at the hands of someone who should never have pulled the trigger of his gun” and called for “justice.”

On Thursday, Byrd called that statement “disheartening,” but added that if he had been responsible for the former president’s protection, “I was prepared to do the same thing for him and his family … because it’s my job.”

Babbitt’s widower, Aaron, told Fox News Thursday evening that he was “pissed off” by Byrd’s statements in the interview. 

“I don’t even want to hear him talk about how he’s getting death threats and he’s scared,” Babbitt told “Tucker Carlson Tonight”. “I’ve been getting death threats since January 7th. Two, three, five, ten a day, you know? And all I did on January 6th was become a widower, so you’re gonna have to suck it up, bud, and take it.”

Attorney Terry Roberts, who represents the Babbitt family, recently called her death an “ambush” and says the family is preparing to file a $10 million lawsuit against both Byrd and the Capitol Police.