A strange series of suicides among police officers who were present at the Capitol on January 6 is raising a number of questions. Gunther Hashida of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department was found dead in his home on July 29 following an alleged suicide. Hashida is one of four police officers connected to January 6 who have died in this manner, a somewhat bizarre trend that has begun to raise eyebrows.
Fourth officer suicide
While it is not known that the deaths of Hashida or any of the other officers who have committed suicide are at all connected to the Capitol, the media has associated their deaths with their presence there.
Hashida is described as a “devoted and loving husband and father” with three children in a GoFundMe account set up by the family.
Like the other officers who have since died, Hashida had years of experience prior to his arrival at the Capitol on January 6.
Presumably during that time the officers must have seen far worse things than a protest that got out of hand, though that protest is now being described as a nearly apocalyptic event now.
Longtime officers Jeffrey Smith and Howard Liebengood both died by suicide in the months that followed. Their deaths have since been associated with the incident.
If nothing else, there are a number of hasty conclusions being made regarding these deaths by those who are eager to assign the blame to Republicans.
Select committee continues
There may be some enthusiasm for rushing to political conclusions after these deaths because of the ongoing activities of the House select committee created by Nancy Pelosi in response to January 6.
Hyperbolic rhetoric has characterized the progress of this committee so far, along with repeated emphasis on how traumatic the day was for everyone involved.
Several officers have testified before the committee and described the protesters as terrorists who were extremely violent and prepared to kill.
Hundreds of people have been arrested in connection to January 6, including some who appear to have been only tangentially connected to what occurred in the Capitol.
Protester Ashli Babbitt was the only individual directly killed in the Capitol. Officer Brian Sicknick was found to have died of natural causes the following day.
The officers who have subsequently died are Jeffrey Smith, Kyle DeFreytag, and Gunther Hashida of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and Howard Liebengood of the Capitol Police.
