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Ashli Babbitt’s Mom Speaks

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  • Ashli Babbitt’s Mom Speaks

    Ashli Babbitt’s Mom Speaks

    What kind of country is it where a police officer - a FEDERAL officer - can kill a civilian (a veteran) and we can't even know officially who it was?

    Her family’s grief has been compounded by the media’s grotesque portrayal of their loved one as a “QAnon conspiracy theorist” or worse, a traitor who got what she deserved.

    The only video Ashli Babbitt’s mom has seen of her daughter on January 6 is a clip of her walking from Donald Trump’s speech to Capitol Hill. “That brings me peace,” Micki Witthoeft, Ashli’s mom, told me by phone on Wednesday. “She was in her zone, so happy, having a great day.”

    “Until that son-of-a-bitch shot her.”

    Nearly seven months after a United States Capitol Police officer shot Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol building on January 6, the government and subservient corporate news media still refuse to confirm the name of the federal officer who killed her. (Investigative journalist Paul Sperry recently reported the shooter likely is USCP Lt. Michael Byrd.) The Justice Department closed its investigation into her shooting in April and announced the unnamed officer would not face criminal charges.

    Three USCP officers participated in an overdramatic public hearing before the January 6 select committee on Tuesday, often referring to protesters as “terrorists,” “insurrectionists,” and “traitors,” though not a single person arrested in the aftermath has been charged with terrorism, insurrection, or treason. They repeatedly claimed they thought they would be killed by the protesters. USCP officer Harry Dunn asked for a moment of silence in honor of Officer Brian Sicknick to once again promote the falsehood that he was killed in the line of duty.

    Courtesy of Micki Witthoeft

    But there was no moment of silence for Babbitt, an Air Force veteran and Air National Guardsman with eight deployments overseas, including to Iraq and Afghanistan, who actually was killed on January 6. There were no tears and table-pounding from crisis-actor cops or emotionally-fragile lawmakers mourning her premature death. Babbitt was just 35.

    In fact, no one bothered to mention her name.

    Witthoeft, 57, described her oldest child as “determined and strong willed.” A “tomboy” of sorts, Ashli always was up for adventure. While in high school, Ashli decided she wanted to join the military; Witthoeft said she signed a notarized document to allow Ashli to enroll in the Air Force at the age of 17. “September 11 strengthened her conviction to serve,” Witthoeft said.

    Ashli graduated from El Capitan High School in Lakeside, California in 2003 and entered the U.S. Air Force. On her 21st birthday, Ashli sustained serious injuries in an explosion at Camp Bucca detention facility in Iraq and was airlifted to a hospital in Germany.

    Ashli’s adventurous spirit, Witthoeft explained, is what motivated her daughter to travel alone from California to Washington, D.C. so she could listen to Donald Trump’s speech on January 6. “She was an avid Trump supporter, she knew that’s where she had to be,” Witthoeft said. “She went to all the [Trump] rallies if there was one nearby. She was the political one at our house.” At the time, Ashli and her husband, Aaron, were operating a pool cleaning company in southern California.

    Video shows Babbitt with several other people, including police officers, outside the Speaker’s Lobby on the afternoon of January 6. Babbitt is seen yelling at officers stationed in front of a set of double doors, one with a broken window. USCP officers stepped aside a few moments later; people started to smash the glass of the locked doors. Babbitt then attempted to climb through one of the windows.

    That’s when the officer, wearing gloves, lifted his firearm and shot her in the neck. She died almost immediately.

    Witthoeft remembers getting the call from her daughter-in-law at work. “We knew from the news reports that someone had been shot and killed at the Capitol. So when she called to say Ashli was shot, I just knew. I could tell in her voice. We hoped there was time to pack a bag and get to D.C., but there wasn’t.”

    Witthoeft said “red tape” and the military-style lockdown in the capital caused a long delay in getting Babbitt’s body back home. In February, Babbitt was cremated and her remains scattered into the Pacific Ocean near her favorite dog park.

    Three days later, after sleeping on her belongings awaiting her return, Babbitt’s beloved German Shepherd died.

    Courtesy of Micki Witthoeft

    “She didn’t have to be killed, there were other options,” Witthoeft said of her 110-pound, 5-foot-2 daughter. (Babbitt was unarmed.) “Then they dragged her out like an animal, cleaned up the mess, and went about their business.”

    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

  • #2
    There was a case in a neighborhood I used to work in where a police officer shot a teenager having a mental health crisis dead, claiming he was trying to kill him. Though it's still not clear exactly what happened it turns out the officer was less than forthcoming about what happened, the department tried to cover up the story, and I don't blame the family for using every legal avenue to find the truth. The same principle would apply here.
    "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
      There was a case in a neighborhood I used to work in where a police officer shot a teenager having a mental health crisis dead, claiming he was trying to kill him. Though it's still not clear exactly what happened it turns out the officer was less than forthcoming about what happened, the department tried to cover up the story, and I don't blame the family for using every legal avenue to find the truth. The same principle would apply here.
      I agree. If it was a "righteous shoot", they have nothing to hide. When they refuse to make information public, it just makes things look worse.

      I also know that an attorney in Austin, Tx is filing FOIA requests for information on the Capitol shooting, and is getting nothing but trouble.
      The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post

        I agree. If it was a "righteous shoot", they have nothing to hide. When they refuse to make information public, it just makes things look worse.

        I also know that an attorney in Austin, Tx is filing FOIA requests for information on the Capitol shooting, and is getting nothing but trouble.
        There's a practical purpose to hiding the name of the person who killed a terrorist figurehead.

        Comment


        • #5
          It's unconscionable that this could happen and that 6 months later the public and the family still are not informed of the identity of the officer who shot this unarmed woman.

          And sadly these days, if she had more melanin in her skin I suspect we would have already been informed who the shooter was.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post

            I agree. If it was a "righteous shoot", they have nothing to hide. When they refuse to make information public, it just makes things look worse.

            I also know that an attorney in Austin, Tx is filing FOIA requests for information on the Capitol shooting, and is getting nothing but trouble.
            The political sides have been drawn.

            Comment


            • #7
              It's not controversial (at least it shouldn't) that she shouldn't have been in the Capitol to begin with, but that doesn't matter. It reminds me of how the NRA initially said they would speak out about the Philandro Castille case, but then declined to because he had marijuana on him at the time. I support making marijuana illegal, but don't think it should be a capital offense. Same principle here.
              "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Psychic Missile View Post

                There's a practical purpose to hiding the name of the person who killed a terrorist figurehead.
                "Terrorist figurehead" good grief you people have gone bananas. Where's the terrorists? Who has been charged with terrorism or insurrection? None.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Not to sound heartless, but if you are accepting any police position, much less one with the US Capitol, you have to be understanding that, for better or worse, you are going to be a public facing individual, and that you will have to be held accountable to the public as well if anything tragic occurs. It may not be "fair", but life isn't.
                  "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                    It's not controversial (at least it shouldn't) that she shouldn't have been in the Capitol to begin with, but that doesn't matter. It reminds me of how the NRA initially said they would speak out about the Philandro Castille case, but then declined to because he had marijuana on him at the time. I support making marijuana illegal, but don't think it should be a capital offense. Same principle here.
                    This. I dropped my membership with the NRA after their handling of the Castille case.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Psychic Missile View Post

                      There's a practical purpose to hiding the name of the person who killed a terrorist figurehead.
                      So, this USAF veteran is a "terrorist figurehead"?
                      The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Gondwanaland View Post
                        It's unconscionable that this could happen and that 6 months later the public and the family still are not informed of the identity of the officer who shot this unarmed woman.

                        And sadly these days, if she had more melanin in her skin I suspect we would have already been informed who the shooter was.
                        Well, we believe the shooter was black, and she was white, so, yeah... if the roles had been reversed....
                        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                          It's not controversial (at least it shouldn't) that she shouldn't have been in the Capitol to begin with, but that doesn't matter.
                          Correct - she should have been arrested and prosecuted.

                          It reminds me of how the NRA initially said they would speak out about the Philandro Castille case, but then declined to because he had marijuana on him at the time. I support making marijuana illegal, but don't think it should be a capital offense. Same principle here.
                          Don't know anything about that one.

                          The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                            Not to sound heartless, but if you are accepting any police position, much less one with the US Capitol, you have to be understanding that, for better or worse, you are going to be a public facing individual, and that you will have to be held accountable to the public as well if anything tragic occurs. It may not be "fair", but life isn't.
                            EGGzackly.... and the video of this guy shooting made him appear to be rather... um... very unprofessional. He looked more like he was in panic than command. FIRST thing officers are trained to do in a crisis is to exhibit "command presence".
                            The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post

                              So, this USAF veteran is a "terrorist figurehead"?
                              The propaganda is strong with PM.

                              Comment

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