US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on Capitol Hill, in honor of police officer Brian Sicknick, who died after being injured during a pro-Trump protest when rioters stormed the complex.
Sicknick passed away in the hospital on Thursday, after he was injured by a rioter in the US Capitol the day before. The officer is one of five people who died during the occupation of the Capitol by President Donald Trump’s supporters. An unarmed protester, Ashli Babbitt, was shot by police inside the building, while three other people suffered fatal “medical emergencies.”
I have ordered the flags at the Capitol lowered to half-staff in Officer Sicknick’s honor. May it be a comfort to Officer Sicknick’s family that so many mourn with and pray for them at this sad time.
The riot saw a crowd of Trump supporters push inside the Capitol as lawmakers inside certified Joe Biden’s electoral victory. The crowd chanted, jeered, and vandalized the offices of politicians, as some clashed with police and others took selfies inside the building.
Wednesday’s events were condemned across the political spectrum. Before ordering flags lowered, Pelosi called the rioters “terrorists” and branded their occupation of the Capitol an “armed insurrection.” The House Speaker also called for Trump’s impeachment, and for the president’s staff to remove him on grounds of unfitness for office via the 25th Amendment.
Police officers in Washington held a vigil for Sicknick on Thursday night, with a convoy of lit-up police vehicles parading past the Washington Monument in the early hours of Friday morning.
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