Eyewitness describes moment pro-Trump rioter Ashli Babbitt was shot by police

The woman shot during last night’s assault on the US Capitol building by Donald Trump supporters has been named as Ashli Babbitt – a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego, California.

Local media reports that while the authorities in Washington DC had not yet contacted her next of kin, family members had seen clips of the incident that had been uploaded to media and they had positively identified her as the woman shot dead by a police officer.

“It’s her. It’s her. It’s definitely her,” one family member told the San Diego Union Tribune.

“No one has contacted us,” they added, “no official person has gotten back to us despite the many phone calls.”

Thomas Barani, one of the protesters, said he saw the moment she was shot by a plain-clothes police officer.

Barani says he was part of a group that broke in, throwing flash bangs and tear-gas, and expressed his anger that someone was shot as a result, saying “that’s not the kind of government we can have.”

Describing the moment Ms Babbit was shot, he said the rioters had stormed into the into the building and he saw her smash through a window.

“A number of police and Secret Service were saying ‘get back, get down, get out of the way’, and she didn’t heed the call," she said. "We raced up to grab people and pull ‘em back, [but] they shot her in the neck.”

He added that initially she said she seemed fine, but then started “moving weird and blood started coming out of her mouth and neck and nose.”

Ms Babbitt’s husband Aaron says she was a big supporter of President Trump, and described her as “a great patriot to all who knew her.”

The day before she died, Ms Babbitt tweeted: "Nothing will stop us…. they can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours….dark to light."

She had served with the US Air Force for 14 years, and was reportedly a "high level security official" throughout her time in service.

Speaking to local news station Fox 5, Ms Babbit's mother-in-law said she had no idea why she become got involved in the assault on the government building: “I really dont know why she decided to do this,” she told reporter Lindsay Watts.

In a televised address, Vice President Mike Pence said: "We grieve the loss of life."

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