The Capitol Police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt on January 6th once fired his service weapon at a getaway vehicle near his home while his neighbor was in the line of fire, a Congressional Oversight Committee says. reported.
Michael L. Byrd was arrested in 2023 despite a “significant” history of referrals to the Capitol Police Office of Professional Responsibility, according to House Administration Committee Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) Regarding the oversight, he was promoted from lieutenant to captain in 2016.
Records from three disciplinary cases against Byrd are missing, Loudermilk said. “This is unfortunate because the inability to locate these documents prevents the subcommittee from fulfilling its responsibility to provide comprehensive oversight of the USCP,” Loudermilk wrote. Letter of November 20th To J. Thomas Munger, Chief of the Capitol Police.
The disclosure of Loudermilk's letter was first reported by John Solomon. Just news.
Mr. Loudermilk also ordered Mr. Byrd to receive a $36,000 retention bonus, more than $21,000 worth of security upgrades to his private residence, and instruct Mr. Byrd not to take any fitness tests after January 6, 2021. He also mentioned the “preferential treatment” given.
“Byrd's weapon remained in the public restroom for approximately 55 minutes.”
“The subcommittee is aware that USCP recently promoted Michael Byrd from lieutenant to captain,” Loudermilk wrote. “I am concerned about this decision, given Byrd's long disciplinary history and the clear political influence of internal operational decisions related to Byrd since January 6, 2021.”
A Capitol Police official told Blaze News that Byrd is paid $189,787 a year as captain. He is assigned to the Library of Congress.
Byrd shot and killed Babbitt at 2:44 p.m. after she climbed onto a broken window leading to the speaker's lobby. He was cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Capitol Police even though he never appeared for an interview with Metropolitan Police Department detectives investigating the shooting. He told NBC's Lester Holt in 2021 that he didn't know if Babbitt had anything in his hands, or even if it was a man or a woman, but that his life was in danger.
shooting incident
In the April 2004 shooting, then-Sergeant Byrd armed himself with a military-style handgun after hearing a loud bang near his home in Maryland, Loudermilk said.
Byrd told Prince George's County police that he fired shots at one of two vans parked near his neighbor's house as one accelerated to hit him. According to Loudermilk's letter, Byrd said the second van also tried to hit Byrd and fired shots into the driver's side windshield.
When police found the van and searched it, they found no bullet holes in either windshield. One vehicle had a bullet lodged in its rear quarter panel near the gas cap.
Ashli Babbitt implores three U.S. Capitol Police officers to call for backup due to an angry crowd outside the Speaker's Lobby on January 6, 2021. A few minutes later, Michael Byrd climbed onto a broken glass panel at the entrance to the lobby.Photo credit: Taylor Hansen
“Police have determined that the bullet entered the van 'from the rear,' indicating that the van was shot from behind,” Loudermilk's letter said.
Byrd's neighbor told police that “Mr. Byrd was in the line of fire when he fired his service weapon.”
A Capitol Police OPR investigation found that Byrd discharged his weapon in a “careless and imprudent manner,” in violation of the USCP's weapons and use of force policy. It found there was “insufficient evidence” that Byrd violated the department's truth policy in his statements to county police.
Former U.S. Communist Party Inspector Yancy Garner wrote a letter to Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer “agreeing with OPR's findings,” Loudermilk said.
Bird appealed the decision to the Disciplinary Review Board, which reversed OPR's findings and ruled that the charges were “not sustained,” according to Loudermilk's letter.
high school soccer argument
In 2015, Byrd was referred to OPR after an altercation with a Montgomery County police officer at a high school football game in Maryland.
Police were guarding spectators in the stands from accessing the track and soccer field. Byrd “got into an altercation with the officer and began yelling profanities at him, calling him a 'shithole, an asshole, and a racist,'” the letter said. Bird accused the officer of “targeting the 'black side' of the scene and jumping over the fence to confront him.”
According to the letter, OPR found Byrd guilty of conduct unbecoming a police officer and suspended him for seven days without pay.
In 2019, Byrd was referred to OPR for leaving a loaded professional weapon in a restroom at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.
“I am concerned about USCP's decision to promote him to captain.”
“Lieutenant Byrd's weapon remained in a public restroom for approximately 55 minutes before it was discovered by another officer,” Loudermilk wrote. Mr. Byrd was suspended without pay for 33 days.
Loudermilk said Byrd has received preferential treatment compared to other officers since the Jan. 6 shooting.
He was given an unrestricted retention allowance of $36,000 in August 2021. At about the same time, other officers, including the one injured on January 6, were also given $3,000 retention benefits. In June 2022, executives were offered an $8,000 retention bonus. It is unclear whether Bird also received the other two bonuses, the letter said.
The Capitol Police also planned to pay Byrd's expenses, including the overtime he lost from work after Jan. 6, from the Fallen Officers Memorial Fund, the report said. Byrd's proposal was expected to come before other memorial fund payments, including those for the 90 police officers injured on Jan. 6.
On January 6, 2021, a critically injured Ashli Babbitt is taken by ambulance outside the U.S. Capitol. She was pronounced dead a short time later at a hospital in Washington, DC.Photo by Steve Baker/Blaze News
The department helped Byrd set up a GoFundMe account in November 2021, which ultimately raised more than $164,000. Following the success of the GoFundMe, the Capitol Police decided not to use memorial funds to pay Byrd, according to the report.
Former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) donated $200 to the Byrds' GoFundMe on November 18, 2021. At the time, Mr. Kinzinger was a member of the now-defunct Jan. 6 Task Force, appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (California D). “This man has faced an onslaught of misinformation and extreme threats, so it's a worthy cause,” Kinzinger wrote on Twitter.
The report said Capitol Police paid more than $21,000 to beef up security at Byrd's home. The department also paid for Byrd to stay in an on-base hotel at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Whenever he left his secure base, Byrd had a USCP VIP protection detail with him.
“On at least one occasion in September 2021, Mr. Byrd's DPD took him to a cigar lounge where he remained outside until 1:30 a.m., necessitating 'extended coverage of DPD.'” The book says:
Judicial Watch sued the U.S. Air Force for records regarding Byrd's stay at Joint Base Andrews. his expenses Accommodation Records obtained by Judicial Watch in 2023 show compensation at the Presidential Inn totaled more than $35,000 between July 8, 2021, and January 28, 2022.
The letter states that the Capitol Police directed Byrd not to take the fitness test after January 6, out of “concern that Byrd may fail,” and that if he did, he would be “rejected to duty.” Carrying commercial weapons is not permitted.”
According to the report, Byrd attempted to purchase a shotgun in September 2021 but failed a background check required by federal law. The department “took steps to provide him with a USCP-issued shotgun and intended to 'loan' him the shotgun even if he 'failed' the background check,” the report said.
Loudermilk wrote that Byrd failed his shotgun skills and was ultimately not provided with a USCP-issued shotgun.
Telework no-show
The Capitol Police entered into a “telework” agreement with Byrd in July 2021, allowing him to work remotely five days a week, “but he never returned to work,” Loudermilk said. He was not disciplined for refusing to work. The department extended his paid administrative leave starting Jan. 6 to cover the days in July and August 2021 that he refused to work, according to the letter.
“USCP subsequently encouraged employees in its internal newsletter to donate their annual leave to Bird,” Loudermilk said. “While Mr. Byrd did not return to work until December 2021, months after signing the telework agreement and nearly a year after January 6, he was still referred to OPR and faced disciplinary action. I never did anything like that.”
Loudermilk said that based on information his subcommittee unearthed during its investigation, he was “concerned with USCP's decision to promote him to captain.”
The letter directed the chief manager to respond to a two-page list of requests from the subcommittee by December 4.
Capitol Police Officer Stephen Robbs looks into the Speaker's Lobby after Lt. Michael Byrd shot and killed Ashli Babbitt. According to the wrongful death lawsuit filed against Byrd, tactical officers were in the hallway when Byrd fired at Babbitt on January 6, 2021 at 2:44 p.m.Photo credit: Taylor Hansen
Blaze News has contacted the chief manager for comment but has not received a response. Blaze News also contacted Marc Schamel, the attorney who represented Byrd since January 6, but did not receive a response.
The description of weapons negligence in Loudermilk's letter is similar to the $30 million charge against Byrd. wrongful death lawsuit The lawsuit was filed in 2024 by Judicial Watch on behalf of the estate of Aaron Babbitt and his late wife.
The complaint alleges that when Byrd shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, Byrd “understood multiple applicable precautions” regarding safe use of firearms, recognizing and assessing “imminent threats,” level of use of force, and escalation and de-escalation of military actions. “It was a violation of standards.” The complaint states the charges include use of force, warning, background shooting and obtaining “timely and appropriate medical assistance.”
According to the complaint, Byrd could only “prepare for an anticipated, careful and lawful discharge” to protect himself or others “from imminent death or serious bodily injury.” A violation of Capitol Police Directive 1020.004, which states, “A firearm may be removed from a holster.” Said.
“Lieutenant. Byrd violated this standard of care by participating in a demonstration at Level 5, the highest level of force, unholstering his gun, and pointing the gun at Ashli and others through the east lobby door window. ” the complaint said.
“Lieutenant. Byrd's gun was also pointed in the direction of four officers from the USCP's highly armed and elite Containment and Emergency Response Team (CERT), who had just arrived in the hallway,” the suit states. There is.
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