“There was imminent threat and danger to the members of Congress,” Michael Byrd tells NBC’s Lester Holt in his first interview since the shooting of Ashli Babbitt in the January 6 riot. “I just want the truth to be told.” The Capitol Police lieutenant came forward after an investigation exonerated him for the shooting, which took place as Babbitt crashed through a barricade that was the last line of defense for the Speaker’s Lobby in the capitol:

“Once we barricaded the doors, we were essentially trapped where we were,” Byrd said in an exclusive interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt, speaking publicly for the first time since the riot. “There was no way to retreat. No other way to get out.

“If they get through that door, they’re into the House chamber and upon the members of Congress,” added Byrd, who gave NBC News permission to use his name after authorities had declined to release it.

Byrd’s connection to what was going on outside and inside the building was his police radio. For several minutes, it crackled with a cascade of alarming messages.

There were shouts of officers down. Screams from his colleagues under attack by rioters with chemical agents. A report that an officer’s fingertips were blown off.

Be sure to watch the whole interview, and also to note the context, especially in light of the reports of attacks on officers preceding this shooting. The Capitol Police have a dual mission — law enforcement in a traditional sense and personal protection of members of Congress. By the time Babbitt crashed through the barricade outside the Speaker’s Lobby, their mission had entirely shifted to that of personal protection, akin to the Secret Service.

With that in mind, the exoneration of Byrd makes complete sense, even if it angers those who remain sympathetic to the rioters. Officers were under assault, reports of shots fired (later erroneous) had gone out over the radio, and hhe hallway had been barricaded. Byrd kept shouting warnings for the rioters to stop on the other side of the barricade, pointing his firearm to underscore the point. Babbitt breached the barricades anyway, and had she succeeded in getting through, the rest would have broken down the last obstacle protecting Byrd and the members of Congress under his protection.

Had this happened at the White House with the Secret Service, no one would have questioned the outcome.

Better yet, let’s put this in perspective of the riots in cities around the US last summer. Federal law enforcement had to be brought in to Seattle and Portland to protect federal courthouses in both cities from rioters attacking them, fortunately mostly at night. Had they breached the courthouse while a federal judge and other personnel were inside, breaking through barriers, those law enforcement officials would likely have fallen back as well to the final point where the people under their protection could retreat no further. If an Antifa rioter then broke through that barricade, how many people castigating Byrd now would be cheering the death of an Antifa rioter under the same set of circumstances?

As tragic as the outcome is, Babbitt and the rest of the rioters made the choices that led to that outcome. If they were misled into making those choices by conspiracy theorists, demagogues, and anarchists, it’s all the more tragic. However, those choices are their responsibility, not Byrd’s or anyone else’s.