What specific details did Lt. Michael Byrd provide in his January 6 testimony?

1. The moment he described: a single, defensive shot through a broken window

Byrd told NBC and in extended interviews that officers had formed a barricade at the House chamber doors and that, as a crowd began to push through a shattered window into the Speaker’s Lobby where members and staff were sheltering, he fired a single round aimed at the intruder’s upper body to stop the breach ^{[1] [2]}. He and other outlets framed the shot as an act to protect lawmakers and staff who were hiding on the other side of the doors, and multiple news reports and later official inquiries noted that the shot incapacitated the person attempting to enter the lobby ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Immediate situational details Byrd relayed — gas reports, false alarms, and command actions

In the interview Byrd recounts hearing reports in the Capitol of shots fired earlier that day and at one point instructing members of Congress to don gas masks after what he described as a “disbursement of tear gas” in the rotunda, though NBC’s coverage notes some of the earlier “shots fired” reports proved false ^{[3] [1]}. Those situational claims were presented by Byrd as context for the chaotic, high-threat environment in which he perceived the window breach as an immediate danger to lives inside the chamber ^{[3] [1]}.

3. Byrd’s personal and career details he disclosed: threats and a prior firearms incident

Byrd publicly identified himself in an NBC interview and said that since January 6 he had received death threats, including threats to be beheaded, and that he remained wary because of social-media targeting ^[3]. He also acknowledged that the January 6 shot was the first time in his roughly 28‑year Capitol Police career that he had discharged his weapon on duty, and the NBC/Politico reporting pressed him about a previously reported 2019 incident in which he left his gun in a Capitol Hill bathroom — a fact used by reporters to frame questions about his firearm handling history ^{[4] [3]}.

4. Official findings and contested narratives surrounding his account

Internal and public reporting indicate Byrd was cleared of wrongdoing in internal investigations, and later fact-checks and reporting have corrected viral claims that he was pardoned by President Biden — Reuters and FactCheck note he was not interviewed by the House Jan. 6 committee and was not included in Biden’s clemency list ^{[5] [6]}. Despite official clearance, far‑right figures have denounced Byrd as an executioner while supporters of his actions, including some lawmakers, said his decision likely saved lives; those opposing narratives have shaped how his testimony and public statements were amplified in partisan media ^{[4] [7]}.

5. Limits of the public record and outstanding gaps in Byrd’s testimony

The publicly available interviews and news reports capture Byrd’s personal narrative and media Q&A, but they do not include a complete public transcript of any Select Committee testimony because Byrd was not a named witness in the committee’s final report and was not interviewed by that panel according to Reuters ^{[5] [8]}. Forensic details — such as the later recovery of a folding knife from the injured woman’s pocket cited in crime-scene reports — appear in other reporting but are not derived from Byrd’s own on-camera account ^[2]. Where sources are silent, this reporting does not speculate and instead notes that the official investigative record, public interviews, and partisan reactions together form the evidentiary trail.