Lt. Michael Byrd, the U.S. Capitol Police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt in cold blood during the Jan. 6th capitol break in is telling his side of the story. And like the others this makes no sense when you look at the optics, and As Mr. Byrd sat down with NBC’s Lester Holt for a revealing interview that aired on the network on Thursday. In it, he recounted the events of the fateful day a horde of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and opened up about the fallout he’s faced afterward.
Byrd said that the shot he fired at Babbitt’s shoulder was the first in his 28 years as an officer. She was not armed, and had police behind her pulling people away in other words they had no reason to open fire on her. But he said that “I spent countless years preparing for such a moment. You ultimately hope that moment never occurs but you prepare as best you can,” he told Holt. “I know that day, I saved countless lives. I know members of Congress, as well as my fellow officers and staff, were in jeopardy and in serious danger and that’s my job.”
The lieutenant said he had no idea whether or not the person he shot was carrying a weapon. It was only later that he found out that the rioter was an unarmed woman. When asked why he pulled the trigger, Byrd called it a “last resort.” Which is total nonsense considering her head had hardly peaked into the hole made by others, and she had cops pulling people off the pile and the cops who were armed didn’t shoot them or her but he did? This man is either lying OR he simply doesn’t care about what he did, and this is all just to safe face in my personal opinion. But he went on to say that “I tried to wait as long as I could,” he said. “I hoped and prayed no one tried to enter through those doors. But their failure to comply required me to take the appropriate action to save the lives of members of Congress and myself and my fellow officers.”
Byrd has been cleared of wrongdoing by the Justice Department and the Capitol Police but the Babbitt family is trying to prove otherwise. Their attorney has described the incident as an “ambush,” alleging that the officer gave no warning before he pulled the trigger. Babbitt’s family has also signaled its intention to file a civil suit against the Capitol Police.
Byrd, who’s been in hiding since the incident, had his name quickly leaked out to right-wing media and online forums in the days following Jan. 6. “They talked about killing me, cutting off my head,” Byrd said, adding that there were also racist attacks. “It’s all disheartening, because I know I was doing my job.” But we just now have come to learn of his identity as for months and months now nobody knew who the shooter was so again this is a glaring lie on his part because his I’D had not been disclosed to the media until now so how is he getting death threats when nobody else knew who he was? But still, Byrd explained that the hardest part of the fallout from the events of Jan. 6 has been the effect on his family.
“Sometimes, you can’t do anything but cry,” Byrd said, shedding a tear. “You felt like you did your job. You helped protect our legislative leaders of this country and you fought for democracy and keeping them established.” What democracy when they committed a coup against our 45th president, and rigged an election and are guilty of burning, rioting, looting, and murdering innocent people during 2020’s “Summer of CHOP!”
Despite some Trump supporters’ attempts to label Babbitt a martyr and Byrd a coldblooded killer, the officer maintained that the killing was in no way politically motivated. “I do my job for Republican, for Democrat, for white, for Black, red, blue, green,” he said. “I don’t care about your affiliation.” Well we don’t have “BLUE, GREEN, OR RED” people on this planet so I don’t understand his mentioning that but I get it figure of speech. Still no need to shoot someone when COPS are pulling UNARMED people away from a hole which she couldn’t fit into anyway.
He also noted that he escorted Trump through the Capitol a number of times while he was president. “If he was in the Capitol and I was responsible for him, I’d do the same thing for him and his family,” Byrd said. Byrd ultimately said that he’s chosen to come forward now in the hope that it will counter misrepresentations of his actions that day, even if doing so exposes him to further threats and vitriol. “It’s something that is frightening,” Byrd said. “Again, I believe I showed the utmost courage on January 6, and it’s time for me to do that now.” Shooting an unarmed woman in this situation is not a show of “Courage” more the actions of a scared man who shot first, and didn’t think of the outcome he was about to view from his actions. This is not justice, and his actions should be investigated but they wont be.
Much like the lies coming from congress who all lied about the cops who they claimed “DIED” which is a lie nobody but one Ashli Babbitt died that day in the capitol. I wish Mr. Byrd the best luck in his life, and hope he does NOT get anymore threats, and can live his life to the best of his abilities. Just remember Mr. Byrd you took her ability to live away with your reckless behavior in shooting her. Now should she have been inside the “capitol” no she shouldn’t have been but there were ways to deal with it and giving her a warning or warning shot was the way to go not shooting in cold blood to her neck.