The US Air Force has reversed its earlier decision and will now grant military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who was shot and killed during the Capitol riot. The move was made public by Judicial Watch, the conservative legal group representing Babbitt's family, which released a letter from Under Secretary of the Air Force Matthew Lohmeier to Babbitt's mother and husband, the Hill reports. Lohmeier wrote that after "reviewing the circumstances of Ashli's death, and considering the information that has come forward since then," he'd determined that the decision made by Air Force leadership on Feb. 9, 2021, weeks after Joe Biden took office, was "incorrect."
In a handwritten note, Lohmeier added, "Please let me know what I can do to be of service!," signing off as "Matt," the Washington Examiner reports. Babbitt was shot by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd as she tried to climb through a barricaded door near the House chamber during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. The following month, Air Force leadership refused the family's request for funeral honors, citing concerns that honoring Babbitt "would bring discredit upon the Air Force" due to her actions on Jan. 6.
The reversal comes months after the government agreed to pay nearly $5 million to Babbitt's family in a settlement. Lohmeier has also invited Babbitt's mother and husband to the Pentagon to personally offer his condolences. Military funeral honors typically include a ceremonial detail—at least two members of the armed forces, one from the veteran's service branch—that includes the playing of taps and a handing over of the American flag to the next of kin. Babbitt left the military in 2016 after 14 years, per the New York Times. She served in the Air Force and Air Force Reserve and was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Examiner reports.
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