Officer Michael Byrd, who fired the shot, and who was in another incident discipled for mishandling his service weapon, was previously cleared of wrongdoing following an internal Capitol Police investigation and a separate Biden DOJ review.
The family’s lawsuit, filed in January 2024, alleged Byrd used excessive force and claimed the government failed to properly train officers to handle the situation.
The case took an unexpected turn when one of Babbitt’s former attorneys filed an emergency motion to secure payment for past legal work. That motion prompted the Friday court hearing.
Robert Sticht, who represents the Babbitt family, confirmed the two sides had agreed in principle, though the case remains open until the deal is finalized.
President Donald Trump has frequently championed Babbitt’s cause, referring to her death as a “murder” and calling for justice.
In a March interview, Trump said he was unaware of the lawsuit but described Babbitt as “a really good person” and a “big MAGA fan.”
Last February, Trump blamed Babbitt’s death on former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. “I think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi,” Trump told reporters from Mar-a-Lago. “This was an insurrection, if it was an insurrection, which, there were no guns, there were no anything, except for the fact that they shot Ashli Babbitt.”
The wrongful death lawsuit, supported in part by our friends at Judicial Watch, disclosed the cover up of the facts surrounding her murder began within a minute of the fatal shot being fired.
Within a minute after firing the fatal bullet that struck Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd broadcast a radio report claiming shots were being fired at him in the Speaker’s Lobby and he was “prepared to fire back,” a federal lawsuit alleges.
The previously undisclosed radio dispatch is also contained on an audio recording obtained exclusively by The Epoch Times of the “OPS2” dispatch channel used by Capitol Police on Jan. 6.
According to the lawsuit, Mr. Byrd fired his Glock 22 .40-caliber pistol, striking Ms. Babbitt in the left shoulder, then announced that he was being fired upon and was ready to return fire.
“In fact, no shots were fired at Lt. Byrd or his fellow officers,” the lawsuit stated. “The only shot fired was the single shot Lt. Byrd fired at Ashli. He heard the loud noise of the gunshot. He saw her fall backward from the window frame.”
A few minutes prior to the shooting, a police dispatcher mistakenly reported, “They’re taking shots into the House floor.”
“A reasonably prudent officer in Lt. Byrd’s position would have been aware that, in fact, the report was false and the sound heard on the House floor was glass breaking, not shots fired,” the lawsuit alleged.
It is not clear why Mr. Byrd made the statement that he was taking fire and was prepared to fire back. His radio dispatch occurred up to a minute after he fired on Ms. Babbitt, the suit said.
“The facts speak truth. Ashli was ambushed when she was shot by Lt. Byrd,” the lawsuit said. “Multiple witnesses at the scene yelled, ‘You just murdered her.’”
In his only public statements about the shooting—made not to investigators but to an NBC television anchor—Mr. Byrd never mentioned his radio dispatch or his claim that shots were being fired at him and other officers. Nor did he use that as justification for firing his weapon and killing Ms. Babbitt.
An unknown U.S. Capitol Police officer first reported shots fired in the U.S. House just before 2:43 p.m., followed later by Mr. Byrd’s shots-fired announcement, according to the audio recording obtained by The Epoch Times. Both reports turned out to be unfounded.
“Lt. Byrd was never charged or otherwise punished or disciplined for Ashli’s homicide,” the suit noted.
It’s pretty obvious to us that Byrd knew the shooting of Ashli Babbitt was unjustified and he began to immediately lie and cover his tracks as soon as he pulled the trigger.
Thomas Baranyi, who was in the group with Ashli Babbitt outside the House Chambers, gave this account of what happened. A reporter from CBS affiliate WKRG interviewed him in the Capitol after Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by Lt. Byrd.
The reporter asked him how he got blood on his hand.
“…as we kind of raced up to grab people and pull them back, they shot her in the neck, and she fell back on me and started to say she was fine. It’s cool. And then she started moving weird and blood was coming out of her mouth and neck and nose,” Baranyi said.
The reporter asked him if he needed first aid, which he declined.
“I’m not injured. It could have been me, but she went in first. It was one of us.”
An emotional Baranyi asked the reporter to make this tragedy known.
“Just make sure people know, because this cannot stand anymore. This is wrong. They don’t represent anyone. Not Republican, Democrat, Independent, nobody. And now they’ll just, they’ll kill people,” Baranyi answered.
When asked to whom he was referring, Baranyi answered: “Police, congressmen and women, they don’t care. I mean, they think we’re a joke. $2,000 checks was a joke to them. You know, there’s people filming us, laughing at us as we marched down the street at the Department of Justice. There’s a man in the window laughing at us, filming us. And here it was a joke to them until we got inside and then all of a sudden guns came out. But I mean, we’re at a point now, it can’t be allowed to stand. We have to do something, people have to do something, because this could be you or your kids.”
Ashli Babbitt presented no unique threat, she was unarmed, she was in a crowd of other people, why was she singled out for death? Officer Michael Byrd must be held accountable for Ashli Babbitt’s murder. If we are in a place where the police can get away with firing into unarmed crowds, then our country and constitutional liberty are indeed in peril.
George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com and worked at the U.S. Capitol complex for many years. A veteran of over 300 political campaigns, he is a member of American MENSA, and served on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle, as Director of Policy and Communication for former Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12) then Vice Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and as spokesman for retired Rep. Mac Thornberry, formerly a member of the House Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
- 2024 Election
- Ashli Babbitt
- January 6
- Michael Byrd
- Wrongful Death
- Department of Justice
- Excessive Force
- Nancy Pelosi
- insurrection
- Thomas Baranyi
