As rioting raged in the Speaker’s Lobby hallway just after 2:40 p.m., it seemed virtually no one noticed Lt. Michael Byrd slip out from his hidden position with his Glock pistol aimed at the dozens of people just feet to his right.
Ms. Babbitt spent her few minutes in the hallway trying to keep the crowd from spiraling further into mob behavior. The former Air Force military police officer shouted at three Capitol Police officers to “call [expletive] help” before she used a left hook to sideline rioter Zachary Alam for smashing several windows.
Mr. Byrd lunged forward and fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt as she attempted to climb through a broken-out side panel of the Speaker’s Lobby entrance. The shooting, which was never announced as an officer-involved incident on the Capitol Police radio, sent would-be rescuers toward the Capitol’s South Door.
The first video indication of a response to calls for help was at the South Door of the Capitol just before 2:50 p.m. A Capitol Police officer led a five-man FBI SWAT team into the front of the Hall of Columns.
Some new details. Drip, drip, drip...