An Air Force veteran killed inside the Capitol building during Wednesday’s chaos in D.C. was “gushing blood” after being shot, an eyewitness told a Massachusetts man outside the scene.

“I had no idea who they were,” Robert Burke, 65, of Milton told the Herald Thursday about two men he videotaped who claimed they saw Ashli Babbitt of San Diego get shot.

The 35-year-old Babbitt, whose husband has ties to Attleboro, was one of the four fatalities from the protest that spilled into the halls of Congress. D.C. police have since arrested 68 people and Capitol police arrested another 14, according to published reports.

One of those arrested was a Massachusetts man. David Ross, 33, is facing charges for unlawful entry and curfew violation, police said.

Babbitt was among fellow Trump supporters when she was shot while attempting to climb through a broken window into another section of the hallways inside Congress, multiple reports and videos show.

Burke, who traveled to Washington to videotape the rally, came upon two men outside after the shooting and began to record them.

“They shot her and then they turned around and screamed ‘Do you want to be next?'” one of the alleged eyewitnesses says on the tape. “That’s when the rest of the Capitol Police came storming in and pushed us all out.”

“When she got hit, she was gushing blood out of her mouth,” another eyewitness added.

“One shot and they got her,” the first man then stated.

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund announced Thursday night he will resign.

Burke said the rally-turned-riot seemed to unfold in three stages: Trump’s speech, people heading to Congress and then “bull(expletive)” that occurred in the halls.

“It was like a Cecil B. DeMille movie,” Burke said. “Most of the people you saw up there were your mother, father and grandfather. They just wanted their voices heard.”

He added he ran into people from Oklahoma, Kansas and Minnesota looking to take part in the rally. The rush on the Electoral College process, he added, came late and went out of control.

___

(c)2021 the Boston Herald

Visit the Boston Herald at www.bostonherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Rating: 4.5/5. From 24 votes.
Please wait...