After reading the interview notes and assuming he is telling the truth I believe her shooting was justified. I have said all along that if he was giving verbal warnings to her (Which he was) and she came anyway then well he really had no choice. But there was even more.
Here are the parts that when taken together really make me say well it is of course unfortunate but he did his job.
Here are the parts that when taken together really make me say well it is of course unfortunate but he did his job.
- He and a few other officers were protecting 60 to 80 House members and staffers inside a room where they could not get out
- In his words “If they get through that door, they’re into the House chamber and upon the members of Congress,”
- His outlet to the outside world was his police radio which at the time had a lot of confusion being broadcast, but stuff like officer down and shots fired, even though it wasn't true, has to make you think things are really bad.
- He said he yelled repeatedly for them to get back. But the mob kept pressing forward, and then a lone rioter tried to climb through one of the doors.
- In his words: “I tried to wait as long as I could,” he told Holt. “I hoped and prayed no one tried to enter through those doors. But their failure to comply required me to take the appropriate action to save the lives of members of Congress and myself and my fellow officers.”
- Finally the moment of the shot: Byrd said he had no knowledge that any officers were there. Because of the furniture stacked on his side of the door, he also couldn’t make out how many people were on the other side or whether they were carrying weapons. “It was impossible for me to see what was on the other side,” he said. But he did see the person now known to be Babbitt start coming through the broken glass. “I could not fully see her hands or what was in the backpack or what the intentions are,” Byrd said. “But they had shown violence leading up to that point.”
