Ashli Babbitt's family plans to sue Capitol police and the officer who fatally shot her: report

• The family of Ashli Babbitt plans to sue the US Capitol Police and the officer who killed her.
• Babbitt was fatally shot while trying to enter the Speaker's Lobby during the January 6 riot.
• The family's attorney told Newsweek they plan to seek $10 million in damages for wrongful death.

The family of Ashli Babbitt - the woman who was fatally shot while storming the Capitol on January 6 - is planning to sue the US Capitol Police Department and the officer who killed her, the family's lawyer told Zenger News in a report published by Newsweek on Thursday.

Babbitt was shot as she attempted to enter the Speaker's Lobby at the House of Representatives by climbing through a broken window during the insurrection.

The Department of Justice decided not to bring charges against the lieutenant who shot Babbitt after an investigation concluded he did not violate her rights. The officer, who will be the defendant in the lawsuit, has not been publicly identified.

The family's attorney Terry Roberts told Zenger News' David Martosko that the Babbitt family plans to sue both the Capitol Police and the officer for wrongful death, seeking $10 million in damages in federal court.

Roberts argued that in shooting Babbitt, who was unarmed and not threatening anyone with a weapon, the officer violated her constitutional rights.

"What it looks like is this guy shot this lady for no legitimate law enforcement purpose. And, you know, they ought to be pretty ashamed of that," Roberts told the outlet.

Babbitt, who was 35 when she was killed, was a native of California and an Air Force veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. She went from voting for former President Barack Obama to ardently supporting former President Donald Trump and then becoming a strong believer of the QAnon conspiracy movement that eventually drew her to storm the Capitol, people who knew Babbitt told Insider's Melkorka Licea.

On January 6, rioters breached the Capitol to prevent Congress from affirming President Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Five people - including Babbitt, Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, and three others - died following the riot and hundreds of rioters have been charged with crimes.