Investigators Recommend No Charges for Officer who Killed Woman During Capitol Riot
The shooting of Ashli Babbitt remains under investigation by the DC Metropolitan Police, the US Attorney's Office in Washington, DC, and civil rights prosecutors, a routine process for shootings involving the Capitol Police.
Investigators have recommended that prosecutors decline to bring charges against a US Capitol Police officer over the fatal shooting of a woman during the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot.
The shooting of Ashli Babbitt remains under investigation by the DC Metropolitan Police, the US Attorney's Office in Washington, DC, and civil rights prosecutors, a routine process for shootings involving the Capitol Police.
A final decision hasn't been made, the people familiar with the probe told CNN.
Justice Department officials could make a final decision in the coming days.
Babbitt's was shot by the officer as a crowd pushed toward a doorway -- barricaded by chairs and guarded by Capitol Police -- that was the entrance to the Speaker's Lobby in the Capitol building. Babbitt was given medical assistance immediately and taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
In a new federal criminal case announced against a man at the front of the crowd when Babbitt was shot, prosecutors pieced together how the crowd had threatened police minutes before the shooting.
The new charges against Zachary Jodan Alam say Alam allegedly punched and kicked the glass panels of the closed doors, tried to smash it with a helmet, pushed himself against an officer and shouted in the faces of officers "f**k the blue." After Alam smashed a window, Babbitt was shot, according to a new affidavit from the FBI used to support Alam's charges.
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