On Thursday, Lt. Michael Byrd spoke publicly for the first time, identifying himself as the officer who fatal shot Ashli Babbitt during the U.S. Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6.
“I know that day I saved countless lives,” Byrd told NBC Nightly News during a sit down interview. “I know members of Congress, as well as my fellow officers and staff, were in jeopardy and in serious danger. And that’s my job.”
Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego, was shot by Byrd when she tried to climb through a door to get into the Speaker’s Lobby outside the House chamber. The door’s glass had been smashed out as she and others in the mob tried to get inside.
You can watch Byrd’s complete comments here:
Byrd has been cleared cleared of any wrongdoing but his name had been previously withheld by authorities over safety concerns.
Or you can just watch Tucker Carlson’s comments here.
He said he yelled repeatedly for the rioters to get back and that shooting was a “last resort,” he told NBC.
“I tried to wait as long as I could,” he told the news station. “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.”
Related Story — Aaron Babbitt to Newsmax: DC, Media Ran Cover for Officer Who Killed My Wife
Video showed Byrd firing the shot. Babbitt’s death has since become a rallying cry for the far right and Byrd began receiving racist attacks and death threats.
Here's the video of the Capitol police shooting Ashli Babbitt as she and others attempted to break into the Speaker's Lobby (a warning about viewing this)
the clip is from this much longer YouTube account of the entire mob, riot of the Capitol.https://t.co/RjENzRn2wb pic.twitter.com/XzOkcCUgls
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) January 8, 2021
Washington attorney Mark Schamel said his client’s actions were “unbelievable heroism.”
“He stopped them from coming through to the hallway and into the chamber,” Schamel said, RealClearWire reported. “He stopped a potential massacre.”
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“I know that day I saved countless lives,”. By murdering an unarmed protestor on the other side of a window from you? There is no way in a unbiased court of law you could talk your way out of a murder, or at least manslaughter charge. In DC there is no such thing as unbiased, let alone
due process in the legal sense.
Hell, most any leftist state, is that way… Not just DC.
None of the protesters were armed; there was no need to shoot this Patriotic veteran in the head. This is supposedly what the LEFT is against–excessive force in a reaction! And what about the video where the Capital policeman opens the doors and invited the protesters into the building??
I’d like to know whose life was in jeopardy or who was in danger of receiving great bodily harm from an unarmed woman. It was not justified, as no reasonable LEO would have taken that shot under those circumstances, so it was not a good shoot…
AHH, but they are only AGAINST excessive force, when its PATRIOTS DEFENDING THEMSELVES against rioters..
I saw pictures of a man sitting in some ones office and another man sitting in Pelosi’s spot in the Senate with a policeman waving him to come down. No one shot at them. The Police didn’t even take out their gun.
Shooting an unarmed 5’2” dimunitive woman in the neck, whom was a 14 year military veteran and probably already served her nation more than the shooter ever had, when the immediate area was already surrounded by police officers in full right gear at the ready … seems much more an act of cowardice than heroism.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1347638418952638468
To me it was an outright EXECUTION.
Shooting an unarmed 5’2” dimunitive woman in the neck, whom was a 14 year military veteran and probably already served her nation more than the shooter ever had, when the immediate area was already surrounded by police officers in full right gear at the ready … seems much more an act of cowardice than heroism.
Make no mistake about it … coming from a Police family, I am 100% pro-cops.
One thing I’m certain of regarding police officers is that there’s nothing a good cop hates more than a bad cop.
I find it hard to believe this overly nervous or worse, a cowardly shooter, would get much sympathy, much less empathy from the rank and file officers in a professional Police Department.
At the very least, the Department ought to retire him in order to get him off the streets because of his high risks history of incompetent decision making.
Andy, I keep hearing statements from folks who claim to be a ‘cop family’.. YET Its RARE TO SEE COPS Speaking out ABOUT THOSE bad cops, and ‘grassing’ them in for their infidelities…
When we retake the Senate, there’s needs to be an investigation on this. None of the capital rioters had weapons.
EVEN IF We win back the senate, i DOUBT the cowards in the GOP would do a damn thing about this…
Everyone forgets, he saved AOC from being traumatized
Now if she was the cop, she would be on trial for murdering an unarmed black man.
The best way you can save lives Lt. ***** is to take your disgrace of a cop self to the highest building and jump off making sure not to land on anyone!
I think this was a hate crime. White lives matter too! It seems NO lives matter to black men with guns. They don’t care who they shoot.