The woman who was shot and killed during the assault on the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. by a mob of protesters Wednesday was an Air Force veteran.
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Ashli Babbitt served 14 years in the Air Force, her former husband told KUSI News. A 2014 news release from the 113th Wing of the D.C. Air National Guard also confirmed Babbitt's service. Babbitt, who was then Ashli McEntee, served in the Air Force on active duty and in the Guard. In 2014, she had already deployed eight times, six on active duty and twice with the Guard, where she was described as being in a "mentoring position to the younger and newer airmen."
Air Force and Department of Defense officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Wednesday.
Congress was certifying President-elect Joe Biden's 2020 election victory when a mob of protesters clashed with police and forced broke into the Capitol complex, forcing widespread lockdowns and evacuations. Tear gas was deployed in the rotunda and the mob tried to break the doors to the locked House chamber police defended with guns drawn.
Babbitt was a Trump supporter and apparent QAnon believer who lived in California, according to her social media accounts. She tweeted Tuesday that, "Nothing will stop us....they can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours....dark to light!"
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Babbitt owned a swimming pool cleaning company, according to her Facebook page, and described herself as a Libertarian on Twitter.
On Wednesday morning, hours before the assault on the Capitol, Babbitt retweeted a post calling for Vice President Mike Pence to resign and be charged with treason for his plans to certify the 2020 election results.
"I will be there tomorrow! Gods speed!" she tweeted to another protester Jan. 4.
Much of Babbitt's social media activity in recent days centered on the "stop the steal" campaign promoted by President Donald Trump and other right-wing figures contesting the results of the 2020 election. Some of them were posts from the president himself.
She also shared multiple posts from other protesters saying they were headed to D.C. from across the United States because the president asked them to. Some of the posts she shared from other accounts promoted conspiracy theories, such as COVID-19 pandemic denial, or used language such as "coup" to refer to Wednesday's planned protests.
Babbitt had posted political rants on social media for years.
D.C. police confirmed the shooting death late Wednesday but did not immediately identify Babbitt. Police said three other people also died of separate medical emergencies during events at the Capitol Wednesday.
D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Robert J. Contee told reporters that Babbitt was shot by a police officer as plainclothes cops confronted the mob inside the capitol, and later died in a hospital. The shooting is under investigation.
A video posted on Twitter earlier Wednesday appeared to show a shooting inside the Capitol building as a woman appeared to climb on a small ledge near a doorway inside the building. After a loud bang, the woman, covered in a flag, fell to the ground at the top of a stairwell.
"Where is she hit?" people can be heard yelling in the video, as a man in a suit crouched down next to her.
Another video shows police surrounding the woman and attempting to administer aid, yelling at the crowd to back up so EMS could help.
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Reach Abbie Bennett: abbie@connectingvets.com or @AbbieRBennett. Sign up for the Connecting Vets weekly newsletter to get more stories like this delivered to your inbox.
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