Laken Riley’s father says lawmakers are politicising her death ‘to get those votes’

The father of Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student who was murdered earlier this year, has called out lawmakers for making his daughter’s death “political”.

Jason Riley spoke out for the first time about his daughter’s death to NBC News on Monday morning. His daughter was killed while jogging on the University of Georgia campus on 22 February. Police have since arrested 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, who migrated from Venezuela to the US in 2022 and is not an American citizen.

Now, Mr Riley is criticising lawmakers for using Ms Riley’s death as a political talking point.

“I’d rather her not be such a political, how you say – it started a storm in our country, and it’s incited a lot of people,” Mr Riley told NBC News.

“I think it’s being used politically to get those votes,” he continued. “It makes me angry. I feel like, you know, they’re just using my daughter’s name for that. And she was much better than that, and she should be raised up for the person that she is. She was an angel.”

Ms Riley’s death took centre stage at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address earlier this month. Several lawmakers wore pins with the 22-year-old’s name – and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, heckled the president to “say her name” during his speech.

Marjorie Taylor Greene wearing a ‘say her name’ shirt at the State of the Union 2024

“Laken Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” Mr Biden said in an unscripted moment, taking a pin that Ms Greene handed him. At one point, the president mispronounced her first name as “Lincoln”.

His use of the word “illegal” drew ire from many Democrats and immigration activists – and the president later said he regretted using the term.