President Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden paid silent tribute late Tuesday to Brian Sicknick, the Capitol Police officer beaten to death by rioters who stormed Congress last month.
The first couple placed their hands on a table holding Sicknick’s urn in the Capitol Rotunda, where the cremated remains of the slain officer are lying in honor.
The Bidens silently put their hands over their hearts and Joe Biden made the sign of the cross just after 9:30 pm before standing stock still in front of memorial wreaths.
Lawmakers from both parties were expected to pay tribute to Sicknick later Wednesday.
His body will be taken Wednesday evening to Arlington National Cemetery where he will be buried with full honors.
Sicknick died after defending the Capitol on Jan. 6 against the mob that stormed the building and interrupted the electoral count.
While fighting off the rioters, Sicknick was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher, collapsed later in his shift, hospitalized, and died the following day.
Four other people were killed in the violence, which was seen around the world on television.
No one has been charged yet with Sicknick’s murder but federal authorities are investigating hundreds of suspected rioters, many of whom were captured on video attacking officers and invading the Capitol building.
Sicknick is only the fifth person to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, a designation for those who are not elected officials, judges or military leaders. The others who have lain in honor were John Gibson and Jacob Chestnut, Jr., two officers who were killed in a 1998 shooting at the Capitol; civil rights leader Rosa Parks, who died in 2005; and the Rev. Billy Graham, who died in 2018.
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