A second police officer who defended the U.S. Capitol during the mob attack on Jan. 6 has died by suicide, the acting chief of the Metropolitan Police Department said this week.
Chief Robert J. Contee III told a House committee on Tuesday that Officer Jeffrey Smith, a 12-year-veteran of the Metro Police Department, had killed himself recently. Another officer, Howard Liebengood, who joined the Capitol Police in 2005, died by suicide three days after the attack. Liebengood was 51.
"Other harm from this traumatic day will be widely felt but possibly unacknowledged," Contee said. "Law enforcement training neither anticipates nor prepares for hours of hand-to-hand combat."
Smith's family could not immediately be reached for comment. Liebengood's family declined requests for an interview through their attorney.
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