Protesters enter the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Suspicions abound over the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol. Howard Liebengood, a Capitol Police officer on duty that day, recently committed suicide, a Capitol Police officer was suspended after he was found leading a crowd of protesters through the Capitol, and the Capitol Police chief requested additional police presence before the riot but was denied. Protesters at the scene said they felt that a trap had been set.
A spokesman for Liebengood’s family confirmed to People magazine on Monday that Liebengood had killed himself.
In a statement Sunday morning, the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) confirmed the death of the 15-year veteran who served with the agency, but did not disclose the cause of death.
“The U.S. Capitol Police is deeply saddened by the off-duty death of Officer Howard Liebengood, 51, on Jan. 9, 2021.” The statement reads.
Liebengood joined the law enforcement agency in 2005 and was assigned to the Senate division, according to the USCP union. He was one of the officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
In addition, two U.S. Capitol police officers have been suspended and as many as 15 others are under investigation, according to CNN.
Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, said one of the Capitol police officers took a selfie with a protester occupying the Capitol, and another wore a “Make America Great Again” hat and guided the protesters around the building. He revealed that 10 to 15 other officers are under investigation for their actions during the riot.
Ryan added that one person was arrested, but he did not know if the person was a Capitol Police officer or a member of the National Guard.
Some videos circulating online show protesters entering the Capitol building seemingly not by force, but by police letting them go.
In another puzzling development, the Capitol Police chief had requested additional police reinforcements prior to the rally, but they were denied.
Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told The Washington Post that he asked for National Guard reinforcements in the days before the riot at the Capitol, but security officials in the House and Senate turned him down.
Sund, who resigned the day after the riots, said he had been concerned that the protests planned for Jan. 6 would be larger than expected. He asked security officials in the House and Senate to put the National Guard on standby.
But House and Senate security officials told him they were “uncomfortable” with plans to declare a state of emergency days before the protests and advised Sander to informally ask Guard officers to remain on alert. Both security officials have resigned.
Sander said he called for help five more times as the riots unfolded. The crowd of several thousand people quickly outnumbered the 1,400 police officers on the scene.
The crowd broke through the Capitol just before 2 p.m., Sander said, and he was on the phone with the Pentagon a half-hour later. But Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, chief of the Army staff, refused to recommend that his boss, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, approve the request, Sander said.
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