Ashli Babbitt's Death

Overview

Ashli Babbitt's Death refers to the death of 35-year-old Ashli Babbit, who was shot in the shoulder by law enforcement while storming the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, and succumbed to her injuries in the hospital. Babbit was a former member of the United States Air Force and, at one time, a member of a "Capital Guardians" unit for the District of Columbia Air National Guard (DC ANG), of which one of the primary duties is to defend Washington D.C.

History

Ashli Babbitt's Background / Personal Life

Ashli Babbitt was a 35-year-old former United States Air Force recruit, serving for 12 years and deployed at least eight times, who was born in San Diego, California. According to a report by the New York Times^[1] on her death, she came from a largely apolitical family. She also served in the Air National Guard and for the DC ANG in their Capital Guardians unit, which is tasked with protecting the safety of Washington, D.C.^[2] In 2018, Babbitt moved back to California to run a pool business with her second husband. There, she became concerned with issues including the amount of homelessness in San Diego and issues related to running small businesses, reportedly leading her to conservativism.

Babbitt was purportedly a Trump supporter and follower of QAnon conspiracy theories, supposedly sharing these opinions publically on her now-deleted Twitter / X pages, @ashli_babbitt and @CommonAshSense.^[3] Babbitt believed that the 2022 election was stolen from Trump and attended the Capitol riot on January 6th, 2021.^[4]

Death at January 6th, 2021, Capitol Riots

On January 6th, 2021, Ashli Babbitt attended the "Save America" Rally D.C. Protest (also known as the January 6th Insurrection) in Washington, D.C., where she was shot in the shoulder by a police officer while storming the Capitol.

In a video capturing the moment of her death (shown below, left), rioters are seen smashing the windows on a door into the Capitol building, with someone commenting that on the other side of the door is a police officer with a gun. Babbit is hoisted towards the window and starts climbing through it when the officer fires a shot. She was transported to Washington Hospital Center, where she later succumbed to her injuries.

Babbitt's death was investigated after the fact, with investigators reportedly recommending no charges for the police officer who shot her, Lt. Michael Byrd.^[5] On August 23rd, 2021, CNN^[6] reported that her shooting was found "lawful" and that Byrd's actions "potentially saved Members and staff from serious injury and possible death from a large crowd of rioters who forced their way into the U.S. Capitol."

On August 26th, Byrd spoke to NBC News^[7] about the incident, discussing how he only fired at her as a "last resort." The interview was posted on the NBC News YouTube^[8] page that day (shown below).

2024 Wrongful Death Lawsuit

On January 5th, 2024, CBS News^[9] reported that Ashli Babbitt's family filed a $30-million wrongful death lawsuit against the United States government over Babbitt's death. The lawsuit claims that Babbitt was unarmed and had her hands raised in surrender when Officer Byrd shot her, claiming that she "posed no threat to the safety of anyone" and that Byrd "ambushed" her, also claiming he did not voice his intent to shoot her before firing.

Online Presence

Following her death in early 2021, Babbitt became the subject of discussions and memes (examples shown below) on social media. Numerous videos and images of her storming the Capitol prior to her death and being wheeled from the scene on a stretcher, bleeding, were uploaded online following the incident.

Some of her supporters mourned her death and claimed that she was wrongfully murdered, with some targeting Lt. Michael Byrd, the officer who shot her.^[10] Babbitt became a wide topic of discussion on 4chan's /pol/^[11] board, with over 3,000 mentions of her name on the board since January 6th, 2021, some mocking her death and some mourning her.

On December 24th, 2021, X^[12] user @atensnut posted, "Kim Potter? Where’s the charges and trial for Michael Byrd for intentionally killing Ashli Babbitt?" garnering over 15,000 likes in just over two years. On December 29th, 2022, Redditor u/urmomsuckedmeoff posted a screenshot of a tweet by now-suspended user @ericareport calling Babbitt a domestic terrorist to /r/WhitePeopleTwitter,^[13] garnering over 1,600 upvotes in just over a year (shown below).

2024 Discourse Resurgence

As the third anniversary of the January 6th riots neared in January 2024, Babbitt became a viral topic of discussion on X again. For example, on January 5th, 2024, X^[14] user @DreamLeaf5 posted a meme about Babbitt, writing, "lol Ashli Babbitt is trending again," garnering over 6,300 likes in three days.

On January 6th, Redditor u/emilgustoff made a post to /r/conservativeterrorism^[15] congratulating Babbitt on three years of sobriety, garnering over 3,400 likes in two days. That day, X^[16] user @reddit_lies posted a screenshot of the post, writing, "Redditors celebrate the death of Ashli Babbit," garnering over 7,400 likes in two days.

Search Interest

External References