A woman shot and killed by police Wednesday during the U.S. Capitol siege was 35-year-old Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt.
Although Washington D.C., police had not released a name or details of how she was shot as of early Thursday, her former husband, Timothy McEntee, confirmed her identity to the Washington Post, and her brother-in-law, Justin Jackson, confirmed her identity to KNSD-TV in San Diego.
The graphic video showed Babbitt being shot. In the clip, a shot rings out as Babbitt tries to climb through a window into the Speaker’s lobby.
The shooting was reported shortly after 3 p.m. ET as the pro-Donald Trump mob breached the Capitol building. Congress was in the process of counting the Electoral College votes.
“One Capitol police officer discharged his service weapon, striking an adult female,” D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee III said, adding that the Ocean Beach, Calif., native was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital.
Babbitt served multiple tours in the Middle East, family members said, and owned a San Diego-area pool service business with her husband, Aaron, according to her Facebook page.
Her Twitter page contained references to QAnon, the fringe extremist right-wing conspiracy theory movement that believes pedophiles are embedded in high-ranking governmental positions. Her Twitter feed includes several posts praising Trump and images of her at pro-Trump rallies.
In a Tuesday afternoon post, she wrote, “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!”
“I really don’t know why she decided to do this,” Babbitt’s mother-in-law told D.C. television station WTTG-TV.
CNN reported multiple injuries among police officers, with at least one being transported to a hospital for treatment.
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