Ashli Babbitt, Air Force veteran, identified as woman shot and killed at U.S. Capitol riots

Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran and ardent supporter of President Trump, was identified by family members as the MAGA rioter shot and killed Wednesday after violent rioters swarmed the U.S. Capitol building.

The California woman, after coming to Washington to join Wednesday’s doomed event where Trump ranted for two hours about his election loss, was fatally wounded by a Capitol Police officer as she joined hundreds of fellow demonstrators in storming the building.

A video of the shooting’s aftermath showed the 35-year-old Babbitt lying near the top of a staircase bleeding from the neck in the midst of Wednesday’s rioting following the massive pro-Trump rally near the White House, and her death was announced hours later.
 

“You would never forget meeting her,” McEntee wrote. “She was very loud and opinionated but caring, sweet, thoughtful, loving.”

Video posted to Twitter appeared to capture the moment when Babbitt was shot near a doorway inside the Capitol among a group of insurrectionists. One video obtained by the Daily News appeared to show Babbitt beginning to climb through the broken window of a door to the “Speaker’s Lobby” when she was shot. It was unclear who pulled the trigger.

“A young woman was just shot in the neck right besides me in the Capitol Building,” Twitter user Taylor Hansen posted, along with graphic video.

“Medic! Where is she hit?” rioters frantically shouted.

The San Diego Union-Tribune spoke to a family member who said they saw videos of the incident online and were convinced that the woman was Babbitt. “It’s her. It’s her. It’s definitely her,” the family member said.

But the family had not been able to confirm that with authorities in Washington, D.C. “No one has contacted us,” the family member said late Wednesday. “No official person has gotten back to us despite the many phone calls.”

Babbitt was living in the coastal neighborhood of Ocean Beach, known for surfing and Hodad’s famous burgers. Its voters selected Biden/Harris in the November 2020 election with more than 61% voter turnout.

Supporters of Trump portrayed Babitt online as a martyr to their MAGA cause. Babbitt’s social media featured retweets of bogus conspiracy theories that President-elect Joe Biden stole the election from Trump.

Babitt’s ex-husband, Timothy McEntee, in an email to the San Diego Union-Tribune, called her “a wonderful woman with a big heart and a strong mind.” The two married in 2005 and divorced in 2019, he said, and Babbitt then remarried.

“I am in a state of shock and feel absolutely terrible for her family,” McEntee told the Union-Tribune. “She loved America with all her heart. It’s truly a sad day.”

The couple served together in the U.S. Air Force while married. McEntee said he instantly recognized Babbitt when he saw a photo of the woman who was shot.

“(I) immediately knew it was her but was unaware she was in town so I initially had doubts because she lives in California,” McEntee wrote. “But (I) reached out to a friend and he said she was in town for the rally.”