WASHINGTON — A federal jury Monday awarded $500,000 to the widow and estate of a police officer who killed himself nine days after he helped defend the U.S. Capitol from a mob of rioters, including a man who scuffled with the officer during the attack.

The eight-member jury ordered that man, David Walls-Kaufman, to pay $380,000 in punitive damages and $60,000 in compensatory damages to Erin Smith for assaulting her husband, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, 35, inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They awarded an additional $60,000 to compensate Jeffrey Smith’s estate for his pain and suffering.

The judge presiding over the civil trial dismissed Erin Smith’s wrongful-death claim against Walls-Kaufman before jurors began deliberating last week. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said no reasonable juror could conclude that Walls-Kaufman’s actions were capable of causing a traumatic brain injury leading to Smith’s death.

On Friday, the jury sided with Erin Smith and held Walls-Kaufman, a chiropractor, liable for assaulting her husband — an encounter captured on the officer’s body camera.

“Erin is grateful to receive some measure of justice,” said David P. Weber, one of her attorneys.

Walls-Kaufman, 69, said the outcome of the trial is “absolutely ridiculous.”

“No crime happened. I never struck the officer. I never intended to strike the officer,” he said. “I’m just stunned.”

After the jury left the courtroom, Reyes encouraged the parties to confer and discuss a possible settlement to avoid the time and expense of an appeal and for the sake of “finality.”

“You guys settle, you can move on with your lives,” the judge said.

Jeffrey Smith was driving to work for the first time after the Capitol riot when he shot and killed himself with his service weapon. His family said he had no history of mental health problems before the Jan. 6 riot. Erin Smith claims Walls-Kaufman struck her husband in the head with his own police baton, giving him a concussion and causing psychological and physical trauma that led to his suicide.

Michigan church shooting: A pastor said Monday that the “hand of God” prevented a mass shooting at his Detroit-area church when an armed man was struck by a pickup truck and fatally shot by security staff before he could enter and attack more than 100 people.

On Monday, a day after the thwarted attack, the leader of CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne praised the actions of the security team, which has been in place for more than 10 years.

Pastor Bobby Kelly also said he had met the gunman three times in the past.

“I can’t say for sure what was in his heart or in his mind because he’s never threatened me in any way,” he said. “This young man was definitely struggling mentally. He thought he was hearing from God. We had some conversations about that.”

Kelly said a church member arriving late had spotted Brian Browning driving recklessly and called out to the gunman as he exited his car wearing a tactical vest and carrying a rifle and a handgun. The church member struck him with his pickup truck.

Browning, 31, began firing as he approached the church, striking one person in the leg. At least two staff members shot him, Wayne police Chief Ryan Strong said.

“He is a hero,” Kelly said of the pickup driver.

Wayne is about 25 miles west of Detroit.

Fed urged to cut key rate: Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman on Monday said the central bank should consider cutting its key interest rate as soon as its next meeting July 29 and 30, underscoring divisions among Fed officials as they endure criticism from the White House.

Bowman said that President Donald Trump’s tariffs have not caused the jump in inflation that many economists feared.

“It is likely that the impact of tariffs on inflation may take longer, be more delayed and have a smaller effect than initially expected,” Bowman said in a speech Monday in Prague.

Bowman, who was appointed to the Fed’s board of governors by Trump in 2018, is the second high-profile official to express support for a potential July cut in as many days.

On Friday, Christopher Waller, also a Trump appointee to the Fed’s board, said in a television interview that the Fed should consider cutting borrowing costs next month.

Combs trial: On the verge of resting their sex trafficking case against Sean “Diddy” Combs, federal prosecutors on Monday showed jurors more videos of the drug-fueled sex marathons at the center of allegations that could put the hip-hop mogul behind bars for life.

The clips, totaling about 20 minutes of footage of “freak-offs” or “hotel nights,” bookended a prosecution case that began seven weeks ago with jurors seeing security camera footage of Combs brutally beating his former longtime girlfriend Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

Prosecutors are set to rest their case on Tuesday once Combs’ lawyers finish cross-examining the final government witness — Joseph Cerciello, a Homeland Security Investigations agent whose testimony included spending hours reading aloud text message exchanges, some of which involved Combs or other people in his orbit.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty. Closing arguments were tentatively scheduled for Thursday after what was expected to be a brief defense presentation.

French needle stabbings: French officials said Sunday that 145 people across the country, including 13 in Paris, reported that they had been stabbed with needles at an annual nationwide music festival Saturday. Twelve people were arrested in connection with the stabbings.

While the number of victims was small compared with the millions of people who attended Fête de la Musique events across France, the reports were among a number of alarming episodes in recent years in which people have reported being injected without their knowledge or consent in crowded spaces like clubs or bars.

Syrian church attack: The death toll from a suicide bomb attack on a church in Syria at the weekend has risen to 25, state media said Monday.

The attack Sunday on the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox church during a Divine Liturgy in Dweil’a, near Damascus, was the first of its kind in Syria in years, and comes as Damascus under its de facto Islamist rule is trying to win the support of minorities.

The Interior Ministry and witnesses said a gunman entered the church and opened fire on the congregation before detonating an explosive vest.