Ashli Babbitt’s mother was arrested Friday by Capitol Police, two years to the day after Babbitt was shot dead by police during the Jan. 6 Capitol storming.
Video circulating on Twitter appears to show Babbitt’s mother, Micki Witthoeft, being detained against a vehicle by Capitol Police while a crowd taunts them. Political commentator Charlie Kirk tweeted that Witthoeft had been “conducting a memorial service” for the second anniversary of her daughter’s death.
It’s not clear from the video why Witthoeft was arrested or exactly where it takes place. At one point, a person in the crowd shouts, “What’s the crime? What’s the crime?”
In the video, police repeatedly tell people in the crowd they’re blocking traffic and need to back up onto a sidewalk. The crowd shouts back, saying police are blocking traffic themselves and accusing them of killing Babbitt.
One woman says, “You murdered her daughter two years ago in the Capitol, and now you’re arresting…”
An officer responds, “I did not murder her daughter.”
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Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was shot and killed during the Capitol storming, when a mob supporting then-President Donald Trump surged into the building.
As the only protester killed by Capitol Police, Babbitt became a martyr for Trump supporters. Babbitt’s mother has defended her, saying she had been “a proud American patriot” and was “murdered by a careless, reckless” officer.
Babbitt was shot while at the front of the mob, trying to climb through a window into an area directly outside the House Chamber, where representatives were hunkered down. People in the crowd warned of an armed officer moments before a single shot sent Babbitt falling back onto the crowd.
The moment was captured on video.
The officer who shot her, Lt. Michael Byrd, acted lawfully, according to an internal investigation, and did not face discipline. He later said he “showed the utmost courage” that day.
