The U.S. Capitol was locked down briefly on Thursday
after gunshots were fired outside the building following a car chase
across central Washington and a number of people including a law
enforcement officer were hurt, officials said.
A female suspect was killed by police at the scene, a U.S. official said.
The shooting rattled the U.S. capital three weeks after 12 people were
killed and three injured in a shooting spree by a government technology
contractor at the U.S. Navy Yard, about 1.5 miles from the Capitol.
The
U.S. House of Representatives and Senate were in session when the
gunshots were heard. The U.S. government was partially shut down this
week when lawmakers failed to agree on a budget.
A source
familiar with the situation said the incident started when a vehicle
struck a security barrier at 15th and Pennsylvania avenue, near the
White House. Police chased the vehicle for about 1 1/2 miles to 2nd
Street and Constitution Avenue, near the Capitol, where the shots were
fired.
"I was just eating a hot dog over here and I heard about
four or five gunshots, and then a swarm of police cars came in wailing
their sirens," said Whit Dabney, 13, who was visiting from Louisville,
Kentucky, and heard the shots a couple of blocks away.
A
policeman was injured in a car crash resulting from the chase and was
taken from the shooting scene in a Medevac helicopter, a U.S. official
and police said.
The lockdown order at the Capitol was called off
and security along Independence Avenue was eased shortly before 3 p.m.
(1900 GMT). Tourists were allowed back onto the Capitol grounds.
Just
before Capitol Police sealed off the building, the Senate and House
were in session. On the Senate floor, Senator John McCain of Arizona was
urging that President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of senators
launch negotiations to break the deadlock over government funding and a
debt limit increase.
The House had just passed a bill to fund the National Guard and reservists who are not on active duty during the shutdown.
The Capitol police, who were deemed "essential" staff, were at work despite the shutdown but they are not being paid.
President Barack Obama was briefed on the incident, a White House official said, providing no further details.
In
1998, a gunman burst through a security checkpoint at the Capitol and
killed two Capitol Police officers in an exchange of fire that sent
tourists and other bystanders diving for cover. The suspect, Russell
Eugene Weston Jr., was not charged with a crime because of apparent
mental instability.
Join The Patriot Guard