The Washington Post posted a video of the moments leading up to the fatal shooting of far-right QAnon cultist Ashli Babbit. Pro-Trump rioters can be seen ignoring police orders and breaking down a barricaded door to a hallway leading to the House of Representatives chamber. The destruction of the door was followed by a gunshot.
About 20 seconds after the officers stepped aside, a loud scream is heard on the footage. One man shouted three times that an officer on the other side of the door had a gun. An officer with a gun can be seen at the edge of the video's frame. The warning was repeated by another man, but other rioters continued trying to smash through the doorway.
Around this time, the departing officers were met by colleagues wearing helmets and armed with rifles, who had arrived from a stairwell behind Babbitt and the rioters, according to other video posted to social media. These officers began evacuating the officers who had guarded the door down the stairs.
With help from someone who hoisted her up, Babbitt began to step through a portion of the door where the glass had been broken out. An officer on the other side, who was wearing a suit and a surgical mask, immediately shot Babbitt in the neck. She fell to the floor.