User:Feoffer/sandbox Death of Ashli Babbitt

During the January 6 attack on the United State Capitol, members of Congress were being evacuated by Capitol Police when an attacker wearing a American flag backpack attempted to climb through shattered window in a barricaded door. The individual, later identified as 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt, was shot in the shoulder, later dying from the wound. Footage of the incident was widely circulated.

It was later learned that Babbitt was believer in QAnon, a discredited far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles run a global child sex trafficking ring and conspired against former President Donald Trump during his term in office. Babbitt had believed January 6 would be "the Storm", a QAnon term for an event in which Trump would capture and execute his opponents.

Attack on the US Capitol
Capitol Police officers had been warned that many attackers were carrying concealed weapons, although a subsequent search revealed no weapons in Babbit's possession. In the minutes before she was shot, the crowd had threatened police. A fellow rally attendee who was right near Babbitt recalled she had been warned not to proceed through the window: "A number of police and Secret Service were saying 'Get back! Get down! Get out of the way!'; she didn't heed the call..." Zachary Jodan Alam (who was standing next to Babbitt) was videotaped smashing the glass window that she tried to climb through. He was later indicted on twelve federal counts, including assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon. Following the routine process for shootings by Capitol Police officers, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the Justice Department investigated Babbitt's death and declined to charge the officer who fatally shot her. Babbitt was a follower of QAnon, and had tweeted the previous day "the storm is here", a reference to its prophecy.

Attacker identified
Ashli Babbit (born 1985) had served

Served in the Air Force. Served as a military police officer. Babbitt was a "strong supporter" of Donald Trump.

In November 2019, Babbit first posted about Pizzagate, a discredited conspiracy theory that claimed high-ranking Democratic Party officials and U.S. restaurants were involved in a child sex ring. In February 2020, Babbit began posting in support of the  QAnon movement, often in support of Trump lawyer and Qanon promoter Lin Wood.

After a December 21, 2019 attack on the Oregon Capitol, Babbitt supported the attackers.

On January 1, Babbitt announced plans to fly to DC for the upcoming events. Babbitt retweeted a January 4 reference by Wood saying "the storm is coming". On January 5, Babbit tweeted: "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!"

On January 6, Babbitt supported Lin Wood's calls for the resignation of Justice Roberts and accused Vice-President Pence of treason. . In a final video message, Babbitt reported "we are walking to the Capitol in a mob".

Babbitt attempted to climb through a shattered window in a barricaded door and was shot in the shoulder by a Capitol Police officer, dying from the wound. The shooting was recorded on several cameras.