U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd was never formally interviewed by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department before being cleared of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to a report from Real Clear Investigations.
He did, however, do a TV interview. During a friendly TV Interview on NBC Nightly News, Byrd told the interviewer that he didn’t know he shot a female or if she was armed.
At least one witness said Byrd never warned Mrs. Babbitt, an Air Force combat veteran, although he claimed the opposite on TV.
“Docs uncovered by Judicial Watch reveal that eyewitnesses told investigators they did not hear Byrd give Babbitt any verbal warnings prior to firing, contradicting what Byrd told NBC,” Judicial Watch said in Real Clear Investigations.
“I didn’t even know it was a female,” he said. “Until hours, way later. Sometime later on that night, before I even found out that it was a female.”
“And because the call of ‘shots fired’ had gone out, you know, it was later I found out that the subject did not have a weapon. But there was no way to know that at that time.”
Then what was the justification for shooting her?
Judicial Watch discovered through a Freedom of Information lawsuit that the Capitol Police Sergeant positioned behind Byrd did not see any weapons in the hands of Ashli Babbit when she climbed through the broken glass.
Byrd received a medal for that performance, along with sympathy from the Left, as if he was the victim.
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THERE WAS NO FORMAL PROBE OR EVEN A STATEMENT
Paul Sperry, writing in Real Clear Investigations, reports that there was no formal investigation of Lt. Michael Byrd. Yet, he was cleared.
“In fact, investigators cleared Byrd of wrongdoing in the shooting without actually interviewing him about the shooting or threatening him with punishment if he did not cooperate with their criminal investigation,” Sperry writes.
“He didn’t provide any statement to [criminal] investigators and they didn’t push him to make a statement,” Babbitt family attorney Terry Roberts told RCI. “It’s astonishing how skimpy his investigative file is.”
“MPD did not formally interview Lt. Byrd,” deputy D.C. MPD communications director Kristen Metzger also said. And, “He didn’t give a statement while under the U.S. Attorney’s Office investigation.”
Byrd declined to cooperate with D.C MPD Internal Affairs Division’s investigation, RCI reports. The U.S. Capitol Police, which reports directly to Congress, determined that “the officer’s conduct was lawful and within department policy.”
As an aside, who is this man in red who started the vandalism in this area? He was later standing next to Mrs. Babbitt when she was shot as was radical Leftist John Sullivan:
First broken window West Side of Capitol done by same guy in red jacket that we have been trying to identify for 10 months. Same guy was standing beside Ashli in Speaker’s Lobby. pic.twitter.com/lpOIkWQkIj
— Justice For Ashli Babbitt (@ForAshli) January 18, 2022
Why did the police move away from the door as the crowd grew louder? Why did Byrd shoot with others in the line of fire? Did anyone recommend a prosecution? We don’t know.
At 5:46, you can listen to the Byrd interview.
These recordings and photos provide dramatic, first-hand evidence that the shooting death of Ashli Babbitt was unjustified. It is disturbing that neither the Pelosi Congress nor the Biden/Garland DOJ took no action over this needless death. https://t.co/fxcD1Zm07R pic.twitter.com/QL858bJdr0
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) November 18, 2021
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