Thread by @TerryBoutonHist

Lt. Michael Byrd did more than he knows. I was at the Capitol Insurrection observing on the east (non-mall) side and witnessed the difference his actions made. Shooting Ashli Babbitt stopped another wave of violent insurrectionists from entering the Capitol.

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1431046036034932736

Just before Lt. Byrd shot Babbitt, insurrectionists inside the Capitol had managed to open a door on the House side. At the time, the crowd on east side was almost all on the center stairs, having no luck trying to (re)break into the doors that led into the Rotunda.

With few people on the House stairs, the insurrectionists who had opened the door started shouting, "Door on the House side is open! Come on over!" But the crowd didn't move. I don't think many of them knew which was the House side.

Suddenly a recording of Donald Trump giving a typical stump speech blared from a speaker (like the one the guy in this picture has on his hip). Speaker-guy walked from the Rotunda stairs to the House stairs. And the crowd slowly started following, like the fable of the Pied Piper

Just as the crowd reached the bottom of the House stairs, someone on the back balcony shouted, "They shot a girl!" And everyone froze. Once it was clear Capitol Police were willing to use deadly force, most of the mob on the east side stopped trying to break in.

The crowd turned on the Capitol Police--but they did not enter the building again. They called the police "traitors" and "murderers." This guy, who marched to the Capitol with the Proud Boys, ripped up a Thin Blue Line flag and tossed it off the House balcony.

I was ten feet away from Ashli Babbitt's body when the EMTs wheeled her out on a gurney. She was probably dead already and there was blood everywhere on her. The crowd saw that blood and fumed. But no one wanted to risk getting shot trying to go inside.

The shooting of Ashli Babbitt and the sight of her body ended the insurrection on the east side. And for that we have Lt. Byrd to thank. The death of that poor, misguided woman was tragic. But it helped save lives and perhaps democracy.

(Photo's and video @noelleacook)