‘My Name Is Michael Byrd’: Capitol Officer Who Shot Ashli Babbitt Reveals Himself in NBC Interview, Says He Saved ‘Countless Lives’
For more than seven months, the identity of the Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt during the January 6 storming of the Capitol remained undisclosed to the public. On Thursday, that officer revealed himself in an interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt.
Babbitt was shot in the shoulder as she tried to force her way through a barricaded door inside the Capitol. She succumbed to her wound. The officer, who was protecting 60 to 80 House members hunkered down nearby, has been cleared of wrongdoing.
“My name is Michael Byrd,” he told Holt. “Lieutenant for the United States Capitol Police.”
“I know that day I saved countless lives,” Byrd said. “I know members of Congress, as well as my fellow officers and staff, were in jeopardy and in serious danger. And that’s my job.”
He added, “If they get through that door, they’re into the House chamber and upon the members of Congress.”
There had been speculation online that the shooter was Byrd — who was been the subject of threats, which Holt asked him to describe.
“They talked about killing me, cutting off my head,” he said.
Holt asked Byrd why he fired his weapon when no other officer had.
Byrd called it a “last resort,” and noted that his commands to the mob the cease and desist went unheeded.
“I tried to wait as long as I could,” he said. “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.”
Babbitt was part of a mob of Donald Trump supporters who set siege on the Capitol on January 6 as Congress was inside certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Like the other rioters, Babbitt believed Trump’s false claims that the election had been stolen from him.
Babbitt had posted election conspiracy theories on social media. The day before the riot, she tweeted, “Nothing will stop us. They can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours….dark to light!”
Some conservatives have expressed bewilderment as to why Babbitt was shot as she was violently attempting to overturn the results of a democratic election. In an interview on Fox News, Trump called her “wonderful” and said there was “love in the air” on January 6.
On that morning, Trump held a rally at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., during which he repeated lies about the election to an amped up crowd.
Watch above via NBC News.
