The U.S. Capitol Police officer who shot dead an unarmed woman inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 on Thursday defended his actions, claiming he issued verbal warnings before opening fire. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd said he shot Ashli Babbitt as she tried to climb through a broken window into the Speaker’s Lobby, adjacent to the House chamber, because he feared she and others inside the building would get into the chamber, where Congress members were hiding after the Capitol was breached. “She was posing a threat to the United States House of Representatives,” Byrd said on NBC. Byrd admitted he did not know Babbitt was unarmed. “I could not fully see her hands or what was in the backpack or what the intentions are,” Byrd said. “But they had shown violence leading up to that point,” he added. That statement upset Aaron Babbitt, the husband of Ashli Babbitt. “My agitation …