The US Attorney for Washington DC has launched a federal excessive force investigation into the death of the Trump-supporting Air Force veteran who was shot dead when rioters breached the US Capitol.

The office of Michael Sherwin, the Acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia, confirmed a formal probe is underway into the shooting death of 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt, according to the New York Times.

Sherwin has assigned his civil rights division to lead the case, which is currently under investigation by both the FBI and the DC Metropolitan Police Department.

Babbit, from San Diego, was shot in the chest by a Capitol police officer while she tried to climb through a window into the congressional chambers as part of the violent mob that broke into the Capitol Wednesday.

She died in hospital several hours later.

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