Naming the Capitol Police Officer Who Killed Unarmed Jan. 6 Rioter Ashli Babbitt

Naming the Capitol Police Officer Who Killed Unarmed Jan. 6 Rioter Ashli Babbitt
A large group of protesters stand on the East steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2021. Jon Cherry/Getty Images
Paul Sperry
RealClearInvestigations
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Most police departments—including Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police—are required to release an officer’s name within days of a fatal shooting. Not the U.S. Capitol Police, which is controlled by Congress and answers only to Congress. It can keep the public in the dark about the identity and investigation of an officer involved in a shooting indefinitely.

Which is what happened with the Jan. 6 shooting of Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed protester in the U.S. Capitol riot who was fatally wounded by a plainclothes police lieutenant as she attempted to breach a set of doors inside the building.