Two more police officers who responded to the January 6 riot at the United States Capitol have committed suicide, District of Columbia’s police department announced on Monday.
Gatekeepers News reports that the latest development makes it a total of four officers on duty at the building on January 6 that have committed suicide.
The department Spokesman, Hugh Carew said Metropolitan Police Officer, Gunther Hashida, was found dead in his home on Thursday.
Hashida joined the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in May 2003.
“We are grieving as a department and our thoughts and prayers are with Officer Hashida’s family and friends,” the police spokesman said.
Another MPD officer who responded to the Capitol on January 6, Kyle DeFreytag, was found dead on July 10, Carew disclosed, saying DeFreytag’s cause of death was also suicide.
DeFreytag had been with the force since November 2016.
MPD Officer Jeffrey Smith and US Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood also responded to the Capitol riot.
Acting Chief of Police Robert Contee III, At a closed-door meeting with leaders of Congress in January, told legislators that Smith took his life “in the aftermath of that battle”.
Liebengood committed suicide just three days after supporters of former U.S President, Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Congress from certifying Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory.
Four people were confirmed dead on the day of the violence.
Gatekeepers News reports that a Capitol Police officer who had been attacked by protesters died the following day while over 100 police officers were injured.
The mayhem led to Trump’s second impeachment trial and over 500 people have been arrested for their roles in the violence.
Last week, four police officers narrated to a House of Representatives special committee, how they were beaten, threatened, taunted with racial insults, adding that they thought they might die when they were struggled to defend the Capitol against the mob.
