San Diegan Ashli Babbitt’s family settles wrongful death lawsuit for nearly $5 Million

A portrait of Ashli Babbitt hangs on a fence on the first anniversary of the attack on the U S Capitol File photo by Tom Brenner Reuters The family of Ashli Babbitt the San Diego woman who was shot and killed during the Jan U S Capitol breach has settled its wrongful death lawsuit with the federal administration for nearly million it was disclosed Monday The settlement resolves the lawsuit brought by Babbitt family s and conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch which had sought million and alleged the -year-old Air Force veteran was ambushed by the U S Capitol Police officer who shot her without any warnings or commands Court filings indicate a settlement was reached but do not reference the monetary figure released by multiple media outlets which cited unnamed sources familiar with the settlement proceedings Babbitt was climbing through the broken window of a barricaded door to the Speaker s Lobby when she was shot The Department of Justice did not pursue criminal charges against Lt Michael Byrd the officer who shot her while U S Capitol police reported he would not face internal discipline According to the complaint Babbitt attended then-President Donald Trump s rally on Jan then like a great multiple other patriotic Americans attending the rally walked to the Capitol peacefully The complaint states that Ashli did not go to Washington as part of a group or for any unlawful or nefarious purpose and she was there to exercise what she thought were her God-given American liberties and freedoms The lawsuit states that when Babbitt was shot she was unarmed and posed no threat to the safety of anyone According to the complaint Byrd was not in uniform and did not identify himself as a police officer before he opened fire The lawsuit also alleges no members of Congress were in the Speaker s Lobby at the time and that the area was guarded by multiple armed police officers In an August television interview Byrd informed NBC News that he pulled the trigger as a last resort During the interview Byrd reported I tried to wait as long as I could 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 In March Trump informed conservative outlet Newsmax it was a disgrace that Byrd was cleared of wrongdoing and remained with the U S Capitol Police Department Trump also referred to himself as a big fan of Ashli Babbitt stated she was innocently standing there when she was shot and that he was going to look into the then-pending lawsuit which had been set for trial next year City News Facility contributed to this article