Ashli Babbitt was an Air Force veteran. She was the sole protester who lost her life during the January 6 Capitol breach after being shot by a Capitol police officer, whose record shows he never should have been on the job. Now, after years of controversy, the Air Force is giving her full military funeral honors.
Her story has become one of the most hotly debated chapters of that day, sparking endless arguments about justice, accountability, and government power. For her supporters, she symbolizes both the sacrifice of service and the tragedy of a life cut short under questionable circumstances. For critics, her death became a political talking point rather than a human loss. Now, with this recognition from the Air Force, the focus returns to who she was: a veteran, a daughter, and someone who answered her nation’s call long before politics ever entered the picture.
“On behalf of the Secretary of the Air Force, I write to extend the offer for Military Funeral Honors for SrA Ashli Babbitt,” Undersecretary of the Air Force Matthew Lohmeier wrote to her family. He admitted, “After reviewing the circumstances of Ashli’s death, and considering the information that has come forward since then, I am persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect.”
Her service record was not minor. Babbitt “served on active duty as a security forces senior airman from 2004 to 2008, then served in both the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, deploying to Afghanistan in 2005, Iraq in 2006, and the United Arab Emirates in 2012 and 2014,” The Washington Post reported. The same report added, “Any service member who was on active duty at the time of their death is eligible, as is any former service member who was honorably discharged.”
She was 35 years old when she entered the Capitol building. She made it into a hallway outside “Speaker’s Lobby,” which leads to the House Chamber. According to the Department of Justice, “At the time, the USCP (United States Capitol Police) was evacuating Members from the Chamber, which the mob was trying to enter from multiple doorways.” She had no weapon on her.
Officers barricaded the glass doors with furniture. Three officers positioned themselves in front. The glass was broken, and Babbitt jumped up on the windowsill and spread her body as if to block anyone on her side from trying to climb through. That’s when an officer inside the Speaker’s Lobby fired one shot from his service pistol. The bullet hit her in the left shoulder. She was rushed to Washington Hospital Center, where she later died.
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELThe DOJ said there was not enough evidence to prosecute the officer. They explained, “Prosecutors would have to prove not only that the officer used force that was constitutionally unreasonable, but that the officer did so ‘willfully, which the Supreme Court has interpreted to mean that the officer acted with a bad purpose to disregard the law. … the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.”
Her family did not accept that explanation. In January 2024, they filed a $30 million lawsuit against the federal government, arguing she had been wrongfully killed.
“The lawsuit filed by Babbitt’s family alleged that Babbitt did not go to Washington’ for any unlawful or nefarious purpose,’ had her hands in the air when she was shot and ‘posed no threat to the safety of anyone,’” the Post reported.
The standoff ended in May 2025. The Department of Justice settled with the Babbitt family and agreed to pay just under $5 million.
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