Four police officers die by suicide after defending Capitol on Jan 6 [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Two more Washington, D.C. police officers committed suicide in the months after defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
• On Thursday, Officer Gunther Hashida was found dead at his home while Officer Kyle DeFreytag was found dead July 10.
• Howard Liebengood of the Capitol Police and Jeffrey Smith of the D.C. Police took their lives within a month of the attack.

Two more Washington, D.C., police officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol have died by suicide, police said Monday.

Since the attack by a pro-Trump mob, four officers who defended the site that day have died by suicide.

Officer Gunther Hashida was found dead at his home Thursday, the Metropolitan Police Department said Monday, and Officer Kyle DeFreytag was found dead July 10.

Hashida, a veteran of the force since 2003, was assigned to the Police Emergency Response Team.

“We are grieving as a Department as our thoughts and prayers are with Officer Hashida’s family and friends,” police said in a statement earlier Monday.

DeFreytag, who was assigned to the Fifth District, had been with the police department since November 2016, a police spokesperson said Monday night.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sent condolences on behalf of the House of Representatives following confirmation of Hashida’s death.

“Officer Hashida was a hero, who risked his life to save our Capitol, the Congressional community and our very Democracy,” Pelosi said in a statement. “All Americans are indebted to him for his great valor and patriotism on January 6th and throughout his selfless service.”

In a Facebook post on Monday, Romelia Hashida shared a photo of herself with her late husband.

“A thousand words couldn’t bring you back… I know this because I tried, neither could a thousand tears… I know this because I cried, you left behind a broken heart and happy memories too… but I never wanted memories… I only wanted you,” the caption read.

Over 100 D.C. and Capitol police officers were injured defending the Capitol on Jan. 6, and four have died by suicide since then.

Washington Police Chief Robert J. Contee III told a House committee in January that Officer Jeffrey Smith, a 12-year-veteran, had killed himself in the days after the Jan. 6 riots.

Another officer, Howard Liebengood, who joined the U.S. Capitol Police in 2005, died by suicide three days after the attack.

In an interview with The New York Times, Smith’s widow said Smith was hit in the head during the riot and “was a completely different person” afterward.

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who suffered a stroke in the immediate aftermath of the riot, died of natural causes, according to a medical examiner.

A House Select Committee is investigating the Jan. 6 riot where only two Republicans are on the House committee.

Last week, four officers who were attacked by the mob testified before the committee.

Source: NBC News