Thousands of National Guard troops activated to protect D.C. following Capitol riots
More than 6,200 National Guard members will be in Washington, D.C. through President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration following riots at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday that left four people dead and scores of D.C. police officers injured.
“We are obviously concerned about the 20th, we are concerned about the days leading up to [Jan. 20th],” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a press conference Thursday. “Is this going to be a new normal in America regardless of if Donald Trump is the president? Are people still going to be inspired to violence to try to overthrow institutions of our government?
“It may not end on the 20th,” Bowser added.
In response, National Guard members from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware will be joining service members already on the ground from D.C., Virginia and Maryland.
More than 850 of those National Guard members will be assigned to protect the U.S. Capitol grounds, said Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, and have begun construction of a 7-foot non-scalable fence around the building’s perimeter.
Following Wednesday’s unrest, 56 D.C. police officers were injured, including one officer who remained hospitalized Thursday.
“He was snatched into a crowd,” said Robert Contee, the chief of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department. “He was beaten, he was kicked, he was tased.”
That officer, Brian D. Sicknick, died at approximately 9:30 p.m. Thursday, the agency said in a statement.
Sicknick “was injured while physically engaging with protesters. He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,” according to the statement.
Sicknick’s death will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch, the U.S. Capitol Police and federal law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement.
As of Thursday, 68 people had been arrested, and the D.C. police department was working with other law enforcement agencies to identify others who were part of the riots.
“We have significant work ahead of us,” Contee said.
In addition, four people died during the violence at the U.S. Capitol, according to a statement provided to McClatchy by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. Contee said three of them died as a result of medical emergencies while on the U.S. Capitol grounds, including Benjamin Phillips, 50, of Ringtown, Pa.; Kevin Greeson, 55, of Athens, Ala.; and Roseanne Boyland, 34, of Kennesaw, Ga.
The fourth, a U.S. Air Force veteran, was identified by D.C. police as 35 year-old Ashli McEntee-Babbitt, of Huntington, Md. According to her social media posts, Ashli was living near San Diego, Calif. Her identity was confirmed by family members late Wednesday to the Washington Post and to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
McIntee-Babbitt was shot in the lobby near the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives after breaking into the Capitol building, Capitol Police chief Steven Sund said in a statement.
“A sworn [U.S. Capitol Police] employee discharged their service weapon, striking an adult female. Medical assistance was rendered immediately, and the female was transported to the hospital where she later succumbed to her injuries,” Sund said.
The Air Force said Babbitt, who separated from active duty service with the rank of Senior Airman, and served as a Security Forces team controller at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Tex. from 2004 to 2008. She then served in both the Air National Guard and Air Force reserves through 2016.
During her military service, Babbitt deployed multiple times and received several awards, including the Air Force Overseas Short Tour Ribbon, Iraq Campaign Medal, Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon with Gold Border, and Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.
The breach of the Capitol building raised new questions about the precautions put in place for the well-publicized rally, the city’s ability to seek National Guard assistance to protect it’s residents and how the government building was so quickly overtaken.
“Yesterday represented a massive failure of institutions, protocols, and planning that are supposed to protect the first branch of our federal government,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “A painstaking investigation and thorough review must now take place and significant changes must follow.”
Contee said there was no intelligence leading up to the rally that it would result in a breach of the Capitol. McCarthy said that intelligence the Department of Defense reviewed had led them to believe the day would unfold much like the Nov. 14 rally in support of Trump, which was largely peaceful.
McCarthy said they had no indication “in our wildest imagination” that rioters would breach the Capitol.
Bowser said she will request that the incoming Biden administration consider placing the 1,100 service member D.C. National Guard under the control of the mayor’s office. Currently, whether members of the D.C. National Guard are activated to protect the city, and in what numbers, is controlled by the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of Defense and ultimately the president.
Before the protest turned violent Wednesday, the city only had 340 D.C. National Guard members on hand who been tasked to provide traffic control.
“I cannot order the Army, the National Guard, to the United States Capitol grounds,” Bowser said. “I can in the District, with the approval of the Secretary of the Army.”
“Congress must immediately transfer command of the District of Columbia National Guard from the President of the United States and put it squarely under the control of the District of Columbia,” she said.
David Lightman contributed reporting.
This story has been updated.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Thousands of National Guard troops activated to protect D.C. following Capitol riots."
