A second U.S. Capitol Police officer, Howard Liebengood, has died following Wednesday’s insurrection. Although no cause of death was formally announced, Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman reports that it was by suicide.
Liebengood, 51, was assigned to the Senate Division and had been with the department since April 2005.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, and colleagues,” reads a statement from the Capitol Police. “We ask that his family, and other USCP officers’ and their families’ privacy be respected during this profoundly difficult time.”
CBSNews chief Congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes remembers him as someone “who always had a smile on his face and a kind word to share.”
I’ll remember Howard Liebengood as a truly friendly Capitol Police officer who always had a smile on his face and a kind word to share, even at 6: 45 in the morning.
Tragic.https://t.co/6z3FLaZFPr
— Nancy Cordes (@nancycordes) January 10, 2021
Liebengood’s father, Howard Sr., was the Senate Sargeant at Arms in the early ’80s and previously served as chief of staff for two Republican senators. He later became a lobbyist, who worked with Paul Manafort.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255) is a free, 24/7 confidential service that can provide people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, or those around them, with support, information and local resources.
More to come…
