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Ashli Babbitt died in fatal U.S. Capitol shooting Jan. 6, 2021; she’s not alive as posts claim
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- Ashli Babbitt died after a fatal shooting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by a U.S. Capitol Police officer on Jan. 6, 2021, after the 35-year-old woman joined the crowd that breached the Capitol building that day.
But a recent Instagram post claims Babbitt didn’t die.
"And yes we are watching a movie, ASHLI BABBITT IS ALIVE AND WELL," read the caption of the March 7 post, which featured a clip of a crowd including a woman wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat.
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
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By searching for the headlines that appeared scrolling at the bottom of the clip, we found the footage of the person in the video in a Newsmax broadcast of an Oct. 1, 2022, speech by former President Donald Trump.
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Although a photo of Babbitt wearing a similar hat circulated after her death, this isn’t her.
Video published by news organizations documented the shooting. Her widowed husband has talked to reporters about her death. Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia’s Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section and the Civil Rights Division and with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division reviewed video footage, police and witness statements, physical evidence from the scene of the shooting, and the results of Babbitt's autopsy as part of a Justice Department investigation into her death.
We rate claims that this video shows Babbit alive and well False.
Our Sources
Instagram post, March 7, 2023
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Department of Justice Closes Investigation into the Death of Ashli Babbitt, April 14, 2021
TMZ, ASHLI BABBITT'S HUSBAND SHE WOULD BE ALIVE TODAY IF SHE DIDN'T FLY SOLO … I Would've Protected Her!!!, Jan. 7, 2022
Newsmax, Trump declares the 'silent majority is back' at 'Save America' rally event in Michigan, Oct. 1, 2022
New York Times, Woman Killed in Capitol Embraced Trump and QAnon, Jan. 7, 2021
NBC Washington, Video Shows Fatal Shooting of Ashli Babbitt at U.S. Capitol, Jan. 8, 2021
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Ashli Babbitt died in fatal U.S. Capitol shooting Jan. 6, 2021; she’s not alive as posts claim
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