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Ashli Babbitt death: Videos show Air Force vet, other rioters smashing door to Speaker’s Lobby when she's shot

A zoom in of the footage shows lawmakers and officials in the Speaker’s Lobby separated from Babbitt and others wielding baseball bats with just a door with glass panels

New videos have emerged that show the events that led up to Trump supporter and Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt being shot in the Capitol on January 6. They show Babbitt and a dozen other rioters attempting to breach a barricaded door inside the building. The video footage clearly shows the protesters were trying to get into the Speaker’s Lobby, which would have given them access to the House of Representatives chamber. 

 A zoom in of the footage show lawmakers and officials in the Speaker’s Lobby separated from Babbitt and others wielding baseball bats with just a door with glass panels. Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., the chairperson of the House Rules Committee, was one of them.

Some of the protesters repeatedly punched the glass inches away from the faces of the three police officers guarding the door. "We don’t want to hurt no one, we just want to go inside,” says one of the protesters to the police, while another says, “F— the blue!” One user posted the exact moment of Babbitt being shot on Twitter with the words, "Trump Supporter Gets Shot And Murdered The US State Capitol!"

The Washington Post also released a video with a graphic warning that analyzed the footage shot by John Sullivan, a liberal activist, who captured the minutes that show how the mob broke down the door to try and enter the Speaker's Lobby. 

In this lengthier footage, the group of protesters repeatedly demand that the three police officers guarding the door step aside so they can enter. However, the officers only move away after they are sure that their colleagues in tactical gear had arrived behind the door barricaded from the inside with chairs.

As soon as the police officers move aside, the crowd, which includes Babbitt, start breaking the door down and smashing the glass with bats, a helmet and a flagpole, to enter. John Sullivan, who shot the footage, is also heard warning one officer that additional rioters may be on their way. Babbitt, who was wearing a Trump flag as a cape, can be seen in the video footage, wearing a mask. She steps up to the door, helping smash it down before she is hoisted through the broken section of the door. Babbitt is then shot and she collapses on the ground in the graphic footage.  

The protestors were aware that armed police were waiting on the other side of the door when the video is reviewed. One person can be heard shouting that an officer on the other side of the door had a gun. An officer with a gun can also be seen at the edge of the video’s frame. The warning is repeated, but the other rioters continue to try to smash through the doorway. Babbitt is shot seconds later. As she lay bleeding on the floor, armed tactical officers are seen coming up a stairwell from behind the rioters amid shouts of "Shots fired, shots fired". The rioters move away from the door, with some attending to Babbitt. The tactical officers are seen warning other rioters from approaching the door as the footage ends.

The officer who shot Babbitt has been placed on administrative leave, Capitol Police said.