The mother of a woman fatally shot by police during the Capitol riot was herself arrested Friday on the two-year anniversary of her daughter’s death.
Ashli Babbitt, 35, attended former President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally in the nation’s Capitol January 6, 2021. While attempting to enter the Capitol through a broken window in an access door, the Air Force veteran was shot by an officer.
Babbitt was later transported to Washington Hospital Center for treatment of the gunshot to her shoulder but she succumbed to her injury.
“The shooting occurred inside the United States Capitol building by an entrance to the Speaker’s Lobby,” explained an FBI agent in a related criminal complaint. “The Speaker’s Lobby is a hallway that connects to the House of Representatives chambers.”
The agent, whose name was redacted, described a large aggressive crowd trying to breach a barricaded
door to the Speaker’s Lobby being guarded by three Capitol Police officers before Babbit’s shooting death.
Department of Justice officials announced in an April 2021 statement they would not pursue criminal charges against the U.S. Capitol Police officer involved.
Marking the two-year anniversary of Babbitt’s death, her mother, Micki Witthoeft, 58, staged a demonstration Friday near the Capitol.
She was part of a group of demonstrators blocking traffic on Independence Avenue, near First Street, Capitol Police said in a statement.
Police allege protestors lacked a permit to demonstrate on Capitol grounds. Officers established a police line to prevent the group from moving further west on Independence Avenue, USCP officials added.
The group were told to get out of the road or they would be arrested, noting the sidewalk was open.
Witthoeft received multiple warnings to get out of the road but refused, police said. “Instead of getting out of the road, the woman refused to leave, turned around with her hands behind her back and asked to be arrested.”
Babbitt’s mother was arrested around 1:45 p.m. for failure to obey an order and blocking and obstructing roadways. Both charges are traffic violations, and, as typical for those kind of charges, Witthoeft was processed and released Friday afternoon. The release followed her being given a citation to appear in court at a later date.
Video footage posted to Twitter showed Babbitt’s mother being escorted by officers into a Capitol Police vehicle, according to a report in The Daily Wire.
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