The U.S. Air Force will provide military funeral honors for Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who was shot and killed by police during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
"After reviewing the circumstances of SrA Babbitt’s death, the Air Force has offered Military Funeral Honors to SrA Babbitt’s family,” a spokesperson for the Department of the Air Force said in a statement Thursday.
The Biden administration previously denied the honors for Babbitt, who was shot by a U.S. Capitol Police officer while attempting to enter the Speaker’s Lobby, a restricted area adjacent to the House chamber, while lawmakers were evacuating the Capitol. A Capitol Police investigation cleared the officer of any wrongdoing, saying his conduct was “lawful.”
Babbitt, who was 35 when she was killed, deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates during her time in the Air Force and the Air National Guard.
The Trump administration agreed to pay Babbitt’s family nearly $5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit earlier this year. Thomas Manger, then the outgoing chief of the Capitol Police, lambasted that decision in May.
President Donald Trump previously pardoned about 1,500 individuals charged or convicted crimes related to the riot that day.
Comments