The Justice Department announced on Wednesday that it will not pursue charges against the U.S. Capitol Police officer who fatally shot 35-year-old Air Force veteran and Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, determining there was “insufficient evidence” to support a criminal prosecution.
The Justice Department said that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia’s Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and the Metropolitan Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division “conducted a thorough investigation.” After investigators “examined video footage posted on social media, statements from the officer involved and other officers and witnesses to the events, physical evidence from the scene of the shooting, and the results of an autopsy,” the officials “determined that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution.” Members of MPD’s internal affairs “informed a representative of Ms. Babbitt’s family today of this determination.”
