On January 6, 2021, four people in the crowd died during the Capitol attack, and within about 36 hours a total of five people had died in connection with the events at the Capitol. In the months that followed, several law enforcement officers who had responded that day died by suicide, bringing some broader casualty counts associated with January 6 up to seven or more when those later deaths are included.

What “how many died” usually means

Most fact-checkers and major news outlets separate the deaths into two groups.

  • On January 6 itself :
    • 1 woman (Ashli Babbitt) was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer while attempting to climb through a broken window near the House chamber.
* 3 other people in the crowd died of medical emergencies or natural causes during the unrest (including a drug overdose and heart-related issues).
  • Within about 36 hours :
    • A Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, died on January 7 after suffering strokes following his response to the riot; his death is often counted in the “five deaths within 36 hours” figure, even though the medical examiner ruled the strokes as natural causes.

Why some sources say 7 or more

Some official reviews and news organizations also include later police suicides when talking about the human toll of January 6.

  • Several officers who responded to the attack died by suicide in the months after, and some congressional reports and memorial efforts treat those as deaths linked to the trauma of that day.
  • This is why you may see statements like “at least seven people died in connection with January 6,” which combine the immediate deaths with later officer suicides.

Simple way to phrase it

  • If you mean during the attack on January 6 itself : four people in the crowd died that day.
  • If you include the officer who died the next day : five people died in the immediate 36-hour window.
  • If you also include later officer suicides linked to the event : at least seven deaths are commonly cited as being connected to January 6.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.