Ashli Babbitt, a Trump-supporting US veteran, who was unarmed was shot to death by a Capitol police officer, Lt. Mike Byrd. The Capitol Police force has now released audio, video, and still pictures from the incident. Lt. Mike Byrd shot her from hiding and afterward, he ran away from the scene of his crime. There were several officers near Babbitt at the time, but Byrd is the only one that saw her as a threat.
Byrd shot Babbitt without warning and without regret. But he was a black cop and she was a white woman. Imagine if an unarmed Black woman had been shot by a white cop. Would he have been exonerated or prosecuted? Of course, he would have been prosecuted just as he should have been. But, Byrd was exonerated for some odd reason.
On Monday Judicial Watch revealed that they have received multiple audio, visual and photo records from the DC Metropolitan Police Department about the shooting death of Ashli Babbitt:
The records include a new cell phone video, edited by the DC police, that depicts police reacting to the shooting.
Also included among the records is an audio recording of an interview of Lt. Michael Byrd by the DC Metropolitan Police on January 6, 2021. The voices in Byrd’s and other witness interview audio recordings are all digitally altered to try to hide identities.
The documents also include photos of the area where Babbitt was killed and DC police photographs of Lt. Byrd, his hands, and his gun. The photos also include pictures of a folding knife reportedly found in Babbitt’s pocket.
Other audio interviews of witnesses provide first-hand accounts of the shooting
Last month, also as a result of this lawsuit, Judicial Watch released records from the DC Police about the shooting death of Babbitt, showing that multiple officers claimed they didn’t see a weapon in Babbitt’s hand before Byrd shot her, and Byrd was visibly distraught afterward. One officer attested that he didn’t hear any verbal commands before Byrd shot Babbitt. Today’s records include audio recordings of these witness interviews. The records also include internal communications about Byrd’s case and a crime scene examination report.
You can expect Judicial Watch to begin releasing the information after they have had a chance to review it. They had made two Freedom of Information Act requests for the material and after the Merrick garland DOJ refused to acknowledge the request, Judicial Watch sued and this information comes from that successful lawsuit.
Judicial Watch has more on Babbitt’s shooting death here.
