Terrance Gainer, former chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, said Friday that Ashli Babbitt's fellow rioters share some of the blame for her death.
Gainer also blasted former president Donald Trump and others who have questioned whether the shooting was justified, spread conspiracy theories and even attempted to turn Babbitt into a martyr.
Gainer made the comments on CNN's New Day after the officer who shot Babbitt, Lt. Michael Byrd, discussed the incident in an interview with NBC News that aired Thursday night.
After playing a clip showing Babbitt inside the Capitol before she was shot, CNN host Brianna Keilar noted that "somehow this has become incredibly controversial by (Trump) supporters who say the folks you see here in this video weren't posing a threat."
"I know that hallway, that stairway, that door, very, very well," Gainer said, adding that prior to becoming Capitol police chief, he served as sergeant at arms for the Senate.
"I escorted President Obama there, president Bush there," he said, noting that Babbitt was "just a few feet" from getting inside the House chamber.
"The people doing this weren't people on a stroll in the Capitol," Gainer said. "For whatever reason they came in there, at that moment, at that door, on that floor, they were insurrectionists. They were involved in criminal activity. There's no doubt about that.
"Lt. Byrd and others tried to dissuade them, to get them to calm down. It didn't work," he said. "Lt. Byrd was doing his duty, and I think the others that were outside with her in that doorway, yelling and screaming and breaking in there, they owe some responsibility for this too. We're responsible for each other. We expect officers to intervene when they see something going wrong. and we should expect the same thing of our citizens. So I feel bad that she got herself in that position. He didn't shoot someone who was a supporter of president Trump. He shot someone who was in the midst of criminal activity. Trying to get in and do harm to members of Congress. That hurts, and I know that would trouble her parents, it would trouble me, but he did his job. He did what was expected."
Keilar noted that Trump has criticized Byrd, before playing a clip from the NBC News interview in which the lieutenant said he have done the same thing if he had been protecting the former president.
"We never cared how someone got elected, how they go into their positions, whether they were Democrats or Republicans or Independents, or even if they have bizarre ideas about where America should go," Gainer said. "The men and women of the United States Capitol Police protect them all equally, and I think Lt. Byrd demonstrated that, and the more people keep trying to turn this into some type of conspiracy theory, some execution, including the ex-president, including sitting members of Congress, are doing an injustice to us all."
Watch it below.
Terrence Gainer on Lt. Boydwww.youtube.com
