Police in Washington, DC, say they have not discovered enough evidence to charge the Capitol police officer who shot and killed a riot police in the building on Jan. 6, according to several reports.
Authorities warned, however, that the investigation into the incident is still ongoing and no recommendation has been made to prosecutors as to whether they will file charges against the unidentified officer.
Ashli Babbitt, 35, died after the officer shot him as he climbed through a broken window overlooking the Orator’s lobby at the Capitol during the siege. The incident was captured on video and was widely circulated.
A spokesman for the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department said it “would be premature” for the department to “make any comments about that a conclusion had been reached,” according to the New York Times.
The U.S. Department of Justice said opening the investigation into Babbitt’s death was a normal procedure in cases where officers use lethal force against a member of the public, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The agent has been put on leave pending the investigation.
Babbitt served in the Air Force and National Air Guard for more than a decade, the Times reported, and was seen with a Trump 2020 flag as his cape in videos taken before his death.
She was one of several people who died as a result of the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, including two Capitol Police officers and others who suffered medical events near the mass demonstration.
Authorities have arrested and charged dozens of other suspects in the riots and are still searching for a suspect who is said to have planted live pipe bombs at the headquarters of Republican and Democratic national committees the night before the siege.