A police officer who responded to the Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6 committed suicide days afterwards, the acting chief of the Metropolitan Police Department told members of Congress on Tuesday.
While addressing a closed session of the House Appropriations Committee on the Capitol complex security failures, Acting Chief Robert J. Contee, III announced that Officer Jeffrey Smith had died.
Smith is one of two cops to commit suicide in the wake of the riot. Officer Howard Liebengood, a 15-year veteran of the Capitol Police force, also died by suicide soon after pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building. Officer Brian Sicknick, also of the Capitol Police, died after he was beaten by rioters.
"We honor the service and sacrifices of Officers Brian Sicknick, Howard Liebengood, and Jeffery Smith, and offer condolences to all the grieving families," Conteee said. "The costs for this insurrection—both human and monetary—will be steep."
Then Contee highlighted the heroism of MPD officers who put their bodies on the line to protect the Capitol, Congress, and the nation's democracy. 65 MPD personnel sustained injuries documented in injury reports, he cited. Others suffered scratches, bruises, and burning eyes assaulted by pepper spray.
"This assault on the Capitol has exposed weaknesses in the security of the most secure city in the country," Contee pivoted, noting that the federal police forces in the District will be reexamining their security protocols "given the risks of both foreign and domestic terrorism."
As targets are hardened in the federal enclave, other buildings in the city under MPD jurisdiction may become centers for attack, Contee warned.
Federal authorities have charged more than 150 people who attended the Washington riot and breached the premises.
Authorities have not charged any suspects in Sicknick's death. Law enforcement has since asked the public to help identify the man seen in circulated photographs who is wanted in connection with his death.
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