Nearly eight months after protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol, a congressman from the Houston area said he has serious questions about the actions of a U.S. Capitol Police officer who used deadly force on Jan. 6.
“He shot and killed an unarmed person, Ashli Babbitt,” said Rep. Troy Nehls, who represents the 22nd Congressional district in Texas.
The comments come after Lt. Michael Byrd defended his actions in an interview with NBC News last week.
After Lester Holt asked whether it mattered if the person was armed or not, Byrd responded, “According to law, it does not. I know based on my training and my policy what I did was appropriate.”
Nehls is a Republican congressman and the former sheriff of Fort Bend County.
“The shooting needs to be investigated and it needs to be brought to a grand jury,” Nehls said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., said in a press release that Ashli Babbitt was among a mob of people that entered the Capitol and that she tried to climb through broken glass in a door near the House of Representatives chamber. The officer fired one round, which hit Babbitt. She later died.
“I don’t condone her behavior, but she should’ve never been shot and killed in the Capitol that day,” Nehls said.
The officer was cleared by an internal investigation. Capitol police said his actions potentially saved members and staff from getting hurt or killed by a crowd of rioters.
But Nehls sees things differently and believes the officer didn’t have to shoot.
“I don’t find too many law enforcement officers that I’ve talked to, and I’ve been doing this for 30 years, too many law enforcement officers or others that felt that that was a justifiable shooting,” the congressman said.
Back in April, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said it would not pursue criminal charges against the officer and the investigation was closed.
Nehls said he is still reviewing information and taking a deep dive into the events on Jan. 6.