The Justice Department has tentatively agreed to compensate the family of Ashli Babbitt, a former Air Force veteran, with $5 million. Babbitt was fatally shot during the Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021, as revealed by Fox News.
Babbitt’s husband, Aaron, pursued a $30 million lawsuit last year on behalf of her estate. This legal action arose from the incident where she was shot while trying to climb through a shattered window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby at the Capitol.
Reports indicate that during a court hearing on Friday, attorneys representing both the Justice Department and Babbitt’s estate acknowledged they had reached a preliminary settlement to conclude the case.
Michelle “Micki” Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt attends a House January 6th field hearing held by Rep. Matt Gaetz in the U.S. Capitol on June 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. Babbitt was shot and killed after entering the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot. (Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images)
Babbitt was one of hundreds of President Donald Trump’s supporters who entered or attempted to breach the U.S. Capitol during the riot after Congress voted to certify President Joe Biden’s election win.
Video clips posted online depict Babbitt, wearing a stars and stripes backpack and a Trump flag draped around her neck, stepping up and beginning to go through the waist-high opening of an area of the Capitol known as the Speaker’s Lobby when a gunshot is heard. She could be seen falling backward.
Ashli Babbitt was shot dead during the Jan. 6 riot inside the Capitol.
Another video showed other unidentified people attempting to lift Babbitt up. She could be seen slumping back to the ground.
Babbitt was rushed to Washington Hospital Center, but could not be saved.
The Capitol Police officer who shot her was cleared of wrongdoing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which concluded that he acted in self-defense and in defense of members of Congress. The Capitol Police also cleared the officer.
Micki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, stands next to a photo of her daughter in front of the D.C. Central Detention Facility on Jan. 6, 2022. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Washington Post via Getty Images)
United States Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger sent a message to his department’s officers earlier this month after hearing of the proposed settlement, writing that he was “extremely disappointed.”
“In 2021, the DOJ said that there was no evidence to show that law enforcement broke the law. After a thorough investigation, it was determined to be a justified shooting,” Manger wrote, according to the Washington Post. “This settlement sends a chilling message to law enforcement officers across our nation — especially those who have a protective mission like ours.”
Fox News’ David Spunt, Danielle Wallace, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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