Within a minute after firing the fatal bullet that struck Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd broadcast a radio report claiming that shots were being fired at him in the Speaker’s Lobby and that he was “prepared to fire back,” a federal lawsuit alleges.
The previously undisclosed radio dispatch also is contained on an audio recording obtained exclusively by The Epoch Times of the “OPS2” dispatch channel used by Capitol Police on that day.
According to the lawsuit, Lt. Byrd fired his Glock 22 .40 caliber pistol, striking Ms. Babbitt in the left shoulder, then announced that he was being fired upon and was ready to return fire.
“In fact, no shots were fired at Lt. Byrd or his fellow officers,” the lawsuit states. “The only shot fired was the single shot Lt. Byrd fired at Ashli. He heard the loud noise of the gunshot. He saw her fall backward from the window frame.”
Capitol Police officials and Lt. Byrd’s attorney didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment on the lawsuit and its allegations. Lt. Byrd is now a captain with the U.S. Capitol Police.
A few minutes before the shooting, a police dispatcher mistakenly reported, “They’re taking shots into the House floor.”
“Lt. Byrd erroneously believed and acted on a false radio call and/or false report of shots fired on the House floor occurring before he left the House floor and moved across the Speaker’s Lobby to the adjacent Retiring Room,” the suit states.
“A reasonably prudent officer in Lt. Byrd’s position would have been aware that, in fact, the report was false and the sound heard on the House floor was glass breaking, not shots fired.”
It isn’t clear why Lt. Byrd made the statement that he was taking fire and was prepared to fire back. His radio dispatch occurred up to a minute after he fired on Ms. Babbitt, the suit alleges.
“The facts speak truth. Ashli was ambushed when she was shot by Lt. Byrd,” the lawsuit states. “Multiple witnesses at the scene yelled, ‘You just murdered her.’”
“Lt. Byrd was never charged or otherwise punished or disciplined for Ashli’s homicide.”
Video footage shot from the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby shows Lt. Byrd emerging in a shooting stance with both hands holding the Glock.
In his only public statements about the shooting—made not to investigators but to an NBC television anchor—Lt. Byrd never mentioned his radio dispatch or his claim that shots were being fired at him and other officers. Nor did he use that as justification for firing his weapon and killing Ms. Babbitt, an Air Force veteran.
An unknown U.S. Capitol Police officer first reported shots fired in the House just before 2:43 p.m., followed later by Lt. Byrd’s shots-fired announcement, according to the audio recording obtained by The Epoch Times. Both reports turned out to be unfounded.
That message was cut off on the OPS2 channel but was heard in full on the OPS1 channel:
“I need units to respond to the chamber, the House chamber floor,” the dispatcher said. “Again, units need to respond to the House floor in reference to shots fired. They were shots fired at the House floor. Again, units to respond. They’re taking shots into the House floor. We need units to respond to that location. 1443 hours.”
Lt. Byrd’s dispatch was followed by 11 seconds of radio silence.
The transcript of the OPS2 radio communications provided by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as evidence in the Jan. 6 criminal cases doesn’t include the words “we’re prepared to fire back at them.” The DOJ transcript instead says, “And it went, so we locked it down.”
Lt. Byrd retreated from the entrance to the seated area in the Speaker’s Lobby. Officer Mike Brown, a member of the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Containment and Emergency Response Team, said Lt. Byrd was “down and out and almost in tears.”
The revelation of Lt. Byrd’s previously undisclosed radio statements raises fresh questions about the shooting of Ms. Babbitt, 35, and the investigation that cleared him of potential charges of excessive use of force.
The DOJ report that explained why no charges were pursued didn’t mention Lt. Byrd’s radio dispatch.
Lt. Byrd never made a statement to internal affairs officers who investigated the shooting on behalf of U.S. Capitol Police. When he met with DC Metro internal affairs on the night of Jan. 6, 2021, he said he wanted to retain an attorney before saying anything.
DOJ Report Contained Errors
The DOJ report absolving Lt. Byrd from culpability included numerous errors and incorrect statements.The report says that after the glass in the doors leading to the Speaker’s Lobby was smashed out, rioters “were then able to reach through the broken glass and push the chairs off the top of the barricaded furniture.”
Video footage shot from the hallway doesn’t show anyone toppling chairs from the makeshift barricade, either before or after Ms. Babbitt was shot.
The report quotes Jason Gandolph of the House Sergeant at Arms office saying he and several Capitol Police officers “attempted to keep the demonstrators from advancing toward the Speaker’s Lobby after the Capitol was breached.”
According to a cell phone video from Tayler Hansen, the first protester to enter the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby, he said hello to Mr. Gandolph on his way in and told him, “Stay safe, all right?”
When Mr. Hansen and Ms. Babbitt approached the doors to the Speaker’s Lobby, they engaged in friendly chatter with the three officers guarding the doors: Sgt. Timothy Lively, Officer Kyle Yetter, and Officer Christopher Lanciano.
Noting that two of the officers had been sprayed with a fire extinguisher earlier in the day and were coated with white powder, Mr. Hansen asked Officer Yetter, “You need a water or something, man?”
Mr. Gandolph told investigators that he observed Ms. Babbitt “participate in breaking the glass to the doors.”
Video footage shows that Ms. Babbitt didn’t strike the glass or commit any vandalism during her time in the hallway. She confronted agitator Zachary Alam for smashing the glass and eventually punched him in the nose when he broke out a side window, video evidence shows.
Despite clear video footage from the hallway, the DOJ described Ms. Babbitt as “an active participant in a ‘mob’ that had just illegally entered the Capitol building.”
The Epoch Times asked the DOJ for comment on its use-of-force report but didn’t get a reply by press time.
First-aid efforts by Mr. Gandolph and a member of the USCP SWAT team were described in the DOJ report. The document fails to mention that Dr. Austin Harris, a California cardiothoracic anesthesiologist who was in the crowd, knelt down with his medical bag, checked for a pulse, and began assessing Ms. Babbitt’s wounds.
After four minutes of rendering aid to Ms. Babbitt, Dr. Harris was grabbed by a USCP bicycle officer, pulled from his kneeling position, and wrestled away from his dying patient. The officer shoved Dr. Harris down the hall and forced him to leave the area.
A short time earlier, Young Kim—a videographer with medic training who was assisting Dr. Harris—was forced by police to stop his rescue efforts and abandon the scene.
Unusual Facts in the Case
The Babbitt shooting had a number of other unusual aspects. Lt. Byrd’s name was withheld from the media and the public for nearly nine months. His name was still secret four months after the DOJ decided not to pursue charges against him. His name only became public when he sat down for an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt.On July 8, 2021—weeks before the interview aired on NBC—Lt. Byrd moved into a military hotel at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Although he started in a standard guest room, he upgraded to a room typically reserved for military brass at the rank of brigadier general or higher, according to Judicial Watch, which sued the U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense for details on Lt. Byrd’s stay.
Capitol Police paid the hotel bill with a credit card about every two weeks. Lt. Byrd checked out of the hotel on Jan. 28, 2022. The total tab for Lt. Byrd and his pet to stay at Joint Base Andrews was nearly $37,000, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch.
In his interview with Mr. Holt, Lt. Byrd said his name had been kept from the public as a safety precaution.
“I believe it was because of the threats, the vile threats, the conversation and chatter that’s been expressed about me and my actions,” Lt. Byrd said. “They talked about, you know, killing me, cutting off my head, you know, very vicious and cruel things.
“There were some racist attacks as well. Of course, it’s all disheartening because I know I was doing my job.”
