Capitol officer who shot Babbitt goes public

WASHINGTON — The Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter who stormed the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, publicly revealed his identity Thursday in an interview with NBC Nightly News.

Michael Byrd, a 28-year veteran with the Capitol Police, said he only fired his gun that day as a “last resort” and that he was trying to protect about 60 to 80 House members and staff who were sheltering beyond the glass doors of the House Speaker’s Lobby outside the House chamber.

“Once we barricaded the doors, we were essentially trapped where we were,” he said. “There was no way to retreat. No other way to get out.”

Ms. Babbitt was among supporters of former President Donald Trump who made their way deep inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 to try to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

The pro-Trump mobs overran the Capitol complex in a violent attack that later left five people dead.

The group Ms. Babbitt was with was battering the doors to the Speaker’s Lobby, the hallway outside the House chamber where some lawmakers and House staff members were sheltering, when Ms. Babbitt attempted to crawl through a shattered window pane in the doors.

Officer Byrd, who was standing on the far side of the doors, fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt. She was hit in the shoulder and later died.

“I tried to wait as long as I could,” Officer Byrd said. “I hoped and prayed no one tried to enter through those doors. But their failure to comply required me to take the appropriate action to save the lives of members of Congress and myself and my fellow officers.”

He said it was “impossible” to see what was on the other side of the doors because of furniture stacked on his side of the door, and that he did not know Ms. Babbitt’s intentions as she started coming through the broken window pane.

“I could not fully see her hands or what was in the backpack or what the intentions are,” Officer Byrd said. “But they had shown violence leading up to that point.”

Without naming Officer Byrd, an internal investigation by the Capitol Police found no wrongdoing by the officer who shot Ms. Babbitt, the law enforcement agency announced this week. The probe determined the officer’s use of force was within the department’s guidelines, which allow deadly force when an officer believes they are protecting themselves or others from serious harm.

The finding followed a similar assessment by the Department of Justice, which declined to pursue criminal charges against the officer in April. That probe found there was not enough evidence to conclude the officer had violated Ms. Babbitt’s civil rights and it was reasonable for the officer to believe he was firing in self-defense or defense of members of Congress.

Ms. Babbitt has become something of a martyr to some conservatives.

Officer Byrd pushed back on accusations that his actions were politically motivated, adding that he had previously escorted Mr. Trump through the Capitol when he was president.

“I do my job for Republican, for Democrat, for white, for Black, red, blue, green,” he said. “I don’t care about your affiliation.”

Officer Byrd said that after his name leaked, he has faced threats.