SAN DIEGO — This week’s primetime TV coverage of the January 6, 2021 riots in Washington DC hit close to home for San Diegans, as the woman shot and killed by capitol police lived in Ocean Beach.
In the months following Ashli Babbitt’s death inside the capitol building, her family in San Diego had repeatedly threatened, through their attorney, to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
Last year, the attorney, Terry Roberts, told our sister station WUSA that the $10 million lawsuit would be coming soon.
“There was just no legal justification to take her life,” Roberts told WUSA in April 2021. “Stepping into the speakers lobby might be unlawful, but it doesn't warrant the death penalty. So, we don't shoot protesters in this country unless they're an immediate threat to somebody.”
The family and its attorney launched an online fundraiser to pay for legal expenses, raising more than $460K.
But according to court records reviewed by CBS 8, the Babbitt family's wrongful death lawsuit still has not been filed.
CBS 8 reached out to both the attorney and Babbitt’s husband, Aaron Babbitt, but have not heard back.
In January 2021, Babbitt’s uncle, Anthony Mazziott, Jr., told CBS 8 that Babbitt was a veteran, a former military police officer in the U.S. Air Force.
“I knew she was going (to Washington, DC). I had no concerns she was going. She's been to a couple of the rallies before but didn't know it was going to escalate to what it did,” Mazziott said last year.
Babbitt was a fervent supporter of President Trump and not shy about her political beliefs.
In a photo from 2020, she's seen wearing a Q-Anon t-shirt.
In a video from 2018, she can be heard railing against politicians.
“What we do have is a massive amount of pissed off people, like I am, because you guys will not sit down and do your job,” Babbitt said.
In April 2021, the U.S. Justice Department closed its criminal investigation into Babbitt's death, saying the shooting was justified, as police officers were defending the capitol building from a mob that was breaking glass and trying to enter the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives.
WATCH RELATED: Report: Ashli Babbitt's family plans to sue U.S. Capitol Police (April 2021)