The woman shot and killed by police as protesters stormed the US Capitol has been named as 35-year-old Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt who believed she was doing God’s work.
Let us take a quck look at what she thought God represented:
She served four tours of duty during her 14 years in the Air Force and was from San Diego, her husband Aaron told KUSI TV.
He said she was a strong supporter of President Trump.
“I’m numb. I’m devastated. Nobody from DC notified my son and we found out on TV,” her mother-in-law, Robin Babbitt, told the New York Post.
Her brother-in-law, Justin Jackson, told NBC 7 he had been in contact with Washington police, but said they didn’t tell him exactly what had led to the shooting.
He said: “Ashli was both loyal as well as extremely passionate about what she believed in. She loved this country and felt honoured to have served in our Armed Forces. Please keep her family in your thoughts and respect their privacy during this time.”
Ms Babbitt was shot dead on Wednesday as she and other protesters stormed the Capitol building to disrupt the formal confirmation of Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election.
She was shot by a plain-clothed police officer after breaching the building and attempting to enter the House chamber, said Washington Police Chief Robert Contee.
The shooting is being investigated by the force’s internal affairs unit, which is responsible for investigating deaths involving officers.
A fellow Trump supporter, who witnessed the shooting, told WUSA 9: “A number of police and secret service were saying ‘get back, get down, get out of the way’.
“She didn’t heed the call and as we kind of raced up to grab people and pull them back they shot her in the neck and she fell back on me.
“And she started to say ‘it’s fine, it’s cool’ and then she started kinda moving weird and blood was coming out of her mouth and neck and nose and I don’t know if she’s alive or dead any more.”
He added: “I’m not injured… it could have been me, but she went in first.”
Washington police confirmed another three people – a woman and two men – died during the violence from “medical emergencies”.
Ms Babbitt went by the Twitter handle CommonAshSense.
The day before Wednesday’s protest, she tweeted: “Nothing will stop us….they can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours….dark to light!”
She had also recently retweeted several pro-Trump messages, including a video by the president urging supporters to join the Washington march.
Responding to a tweet on Monday by conservative author Melissa Tate saying “Landing in DC. Here to do God’s work. Save the Republic #StopTheSteaI”, Ms Babbitt replied: “I will be there tomorrow! Gods speed!”
According to her Facebook page, she owned and ran a business, Fowlers Pool Service and Supply, with her husband.
See ‘God‘s’ messenger in action:Page 2 of 2
Donald Trump has deleted three tweets accused of inciting violence that caused his account to be suspended on Wednesday night.
His account was locked for twelve hours and threatened with permanent suspension after both Twitter and Facebook said his messages increased the likelihood of violence as his supporters rioted in Washington.
They had gathered in the city for a rally at which the president repeated his baseless claim that the election had been “stolen”.
There was chaos – and four deaths – after the president directed his supporters to go to the Capitol building where the electoral college votes for Joe Biden were being certified.
Before suspending his account, Twitter removed the ability to retweet, like and reply to a video in which Mr Trump addressed those who had clashed with police.
Twitter uses two different forms of notice on deleted tweets.
When a post has not yet been deleted but violates the company’s rules, it is flagged as: “This tweet is no longer available.”
When a user then deletes that message, it reads: “This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules.” This is the notice that appears on Mr Trump’s deleted messages.
Twitter said the president had to delete three tweets which it considered “severe” violations of its civic integrity policies, and cited “the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington DC”.
“This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked,” said the company.
“Future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.”
Facebook has also suspended Mr Trump for a 24-hour period, meaning he will not be able to post anything.
It also removed a video from the president “because on balance we believe it contributes to, rather than diminishes, the risk of ongoing violence”.
During the riot, Alex Stamos, Facebook’s former chief security officer, called for both Twitter and Facebook to “cut off” the president, saying “labelling won’t do it”.
“There have been good arguments for private companies to not silence elected officials, but all those arguments are predicated on the protection of constitutional governance,” Mr Stamos warned.
