Capitol riot: Third police officer who fought with Trump supporters dies by suicide
The officer was found dead in his home
Another police officer who fought with Trump supporters during the Capitol riot has died by suicide.
DC Metropolitan Police Officer Gunther Hashida killed himself on 29 July, according to an announcement from his family.
Details on how he ended his life were not made clear in the announcement. Mr Hashida leaves behind a wife and three children.
A Capitol police officer, Howard Liebengood, also died by suicide three days after the Capitol riot.
Another DC Metropolitan Police Officer, Jeffrey Smith shot himself while commuting to work on 15 January.
“In his work as an officer with the DC Metropolitan Police Department, he worked to serve and protect the public. He was a devoted and loving husband and father,” a statement on a GoFundMe page for his family stated.
According to police reports, Mr Hashida was found dead in his home.
“We are grieving as a Department as our thoughts and prayers are with Officer Hashida’s family and friends,” a spokesman for the department told DailyMail.com on Monday.
The suicide comes a week after Capitol and DC Metropolitan Police officers testified before the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot.
During the hearing, officers recounted being beaten, crushed, shocked, sprayed with chemicals and pelted with death threats and racial slurs by the Trump supporters who attacked them during the riot.
The families of the officers who took their own lives said they noted a change in their loved ones in the wake of the riot.
“I do believe if he did not go to work that day, he would be here and we would not be having this conversation,” Mr Smith’s wife Erin told The New York Times.
DC Metropolitan Police Office Michael Fanone told the House select committee that he has suffered from post traumatic stress after his experiences during the Capitol riot.
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