The U.S. Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot will not face criminal charges, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
The department determined there was not sufficient evidence to appoint a criminal prosecutor to the case, according to a statement from the department’s U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
The 35-year-old Babbitt was attempting to enter a broken window on a door into the Speaker’s Lobby on the House side of the U.S. Capitol Building when she was shot, in a chaotic scene, captured on bystander video, that showed demonstrators trying to getting into the lobby, off the House floor, when members frequently gather.
The U.S. Capitol Police officer who shot Babbitt has yet to be identified.
“An officer inside the Speaker’s Lobby fired one round from his service pistol, striking Ms. Babbitt in the left shoulder, causing her to fall back from the doorway and onto the floor,” the one-page report states. “The focus of the criminal investigation was to determine whether federal prosecutors could prove that the officer violated any federal laws.”
