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In such kinetic and violent conflicts the decision made at that moment will always be specific to that locale and that dynamic. Byrd clearly felt that Babbits' charging through the violently opened breach was a clear and present danger to him, his fellow officers.....and the men and women behind them that they took an oath to protect.
Other officers that day, in other moments, viewed it under a different dynamic.
For example, officer testimony has revealed many, if not all, officers and their commanders feared that a shooting into the violent attackers on the steps outside the Capitol would turn into a huge firestorm. The officers knew that quite a few of the attackers were carrying guns. The police were greatly outnumbered....by attackers, obviously......and they feared greatly outnumbered by the firearms in the hands of those attackers.
Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges testified under oath: "There were over 9,000 of the terrorists out there with an unknown number of firearms and a couple hundred of us, maybe. So we could not -- if that turned into a firefight, we would have lost," he said. "And this was a fight we couldn't afford to lose."
"Hodges said that he and likely many other officers didn't shoot at the rioters because they feared it would escalate the situation.
"I was wondering how many more bombs are there? What's the trigger? How many guns are there...if we start firing, is that the signal to set off the explosives?" Hodges said in his testimony. "That's the reason why I didn't shoot anyone," he said.
Hodges said there were about 9,000 "terrorists" at the Capitol that day and only a couple hundred officers. "If that turned into a firefight, we would have lost and this was a fight we couldn't afford to lose," he said.