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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Capitol Hill situation evolving

Capitol Hill situation evolving

by | 152 Comments

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A Park Police helicopter landed on the East Lawn (near the visitor center on the same side as the Supreme Court building across the street)

Open thread

Update: Driver rammed their car into Capitol Police:

Update 2: Both a Capitol Hill police officer and the driver/suspect have died of their injuries.

Reader Interactions

152Comments

  3. 3.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    Apparently someone rammed a vehicle into two police officers.

  8. 8.

    Eric S.

    CNN has footage of car. Obviously minimal information available and everything is evolving.

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Sherman noted that relatively few people are in the Capitol. Neither chamber is in session, and a lot of staff are gone as well

  14. 14.

    Ken

    I’m flashing back to 2001, around October there was a plane crash near New York, and after some horrified early reports we got the “good news” that this was just an ordinary airplane disaster, not a new terrorist attack.

  15. 15.

    Elizabelle

    @germy:   I was up in DC last weekend, and watched 18-wheelers loading the concrete barriers from the Capitol perimeter on the Mall.  Beyond the reflecting pool nearer the grounds.  Don’t know if they originally went up for the inauguration, or in response to the insurrection.

    Also talked to some National Guard members from New Jersey, whom I met on the Capitol grounds.  They have been in DC since January 8th, with no end date in sight yet.  And perhaps they will be deployed even longer now.

    FWIW, DC is so beautiful now.  Cherry blossoms and all manner of flowers in bloom.

    ===

    Please, please, please may the Capitol police officer(s) make a full recovery.

  16. 16.

    VeniceRiley

    IDK that car hitting that pop-up barrier was probably a loud enough bang to be mistaken for gun fire.

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    MSNBC reporter says at least one person was shot.

    Pure speculation on my part, I’d bet it’s the driver

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    WaPost, two minutes ago:  In full:

    Capitol Police said two officers were injured when a vehicle rammed into them near the U.S. Capitol early Friday afternoon.

    Police said a suspect was in custody. They said both officers are injured and all three were taken to the hospital.

    All buildings on the U.S. Capitol complex were put on lockdown.

    The U.S. Capitol Police said on Twitter that the incident occurred an access point along Constitution Avenue.
    When the incident occurred, police alerted staff members: “Due to an external security threat located All U.S. Capitol Campus Buildings , no entry or exit is permitted at this time,” the alert reads. “You may move throughout the building(s) but stay away from exterior windows and doors. If you are outside, seek cover.”

  21. 21.

    Sallycat

    off-topic–Florida’s governor has just signed an executive order forbidding businesses from requiring people to show proof of vaccination to enter the business. I guess it’s based on the governor’s broad authority to issue orders to private business? Even though we got rid of the former guy, I still have this incredibly corrupt governor to raise my ire and blood pressure on a regular basis.

  25. 25.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabelle: Ran into them?  Were the capital police in vehicles?  Or attempted to run them over, while they were on foot?

    Those seem like distinctly different things, and I on’t know how to interpret what was written.

  26. 26.

    JPL

    NYTimes is calling it a vehicle attack.   It makes sense to make sure that this isn’t a diversion from another attack elsewhere, but as @featheredsprite:  said when are we going to be able to relax.

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Sallycat: @Rob: He doesn’t have the authority to do this. He can issue whatever instructions he wants, provided that a private or not for profit entity is not violating the Federal accommodation laws that were written as part of the Civil Rights Act to overthrow Jim Crow and segregation, there’s nothing he nor anyone else can do to stop a private entity from refusing access. It’s just like with concealed carry. If a business prohibits it, they can ask you to leave if they suspect you are doing so. If you refuse, you can be cited and/or arrested for trespass. DeStupid is doing this as part of his campaign for the 2024 presidential nomination.

  34. 34.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl:   Unknown.  WSJ makes no mention of police in a car, so I fear they may have been on foot.

    Wall Street Journal:

    WASHINGTON—The U.S. Capitol Police said they apprehended a suspect following reports that a person rammed a vehicle into two Capitol Police officers near a traffic barrier, an incident that prompted officials to place the complex into lockdown.

    “A suspect is in custody,” Capitol Police said in a tweet. “Both officers are injured. All three have been transported to the hospital.” The incident occurred at a barricaded access point off Constitution Avenue, on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol building, according to Capitol Police.

    A spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department said that the agency was transporting two people in ambulances to area hospitals after responding to reports of at least one shot outside the Capitol.

    The incident rattled nerves in Washington nearly three months after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol that ended in the deaths of five people. Congress is currently out of session. …

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WaterGirl:

    @Elizabelle: Ran into them?  Were the capital police in vehicles?  Or attempted to run them over, while they were on foot?

    Kasie Hunt said based on her knowledge of the location, where she enters the Capitol most days, she thinks the officers got out in front of the car.

  37. 37.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Origuy: Cannot, would not, could not apply to Disney. They have almost complete autonomy over their properties in central Florida, which will we may call it the Walt Disney World Resort, Destination Disney, and the town of Celebration, is actually the Reedy Creek Development Corporation and the Lake Buena Vista Improvement District. It’s basically the Vatican of Florida.

  38. 38.

    Brachiator

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Sherman noted that relatively few people are in the Capitol. Neither chamber is in session, and a lot of staff are gone as well

    This is good news. I guess someone has been detained. Also good.

    I can wait to hopefully get full info about what happened.

  40. 40.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Sallycat:

    Governors have broad authority to control pandemics for the purpose of public health, but I’m befuddled over the notion of broad authority to require private entities to ignore federal directives on public health.

     

    Does he REALLY want to challenge the Mouse?

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: It depends if he gets reelected governor. He’s overconfident that will happen, but he’s also close buddies with Gaetz, who was co-chair of his campaign for governor in 2018. And Rick Scott intends to be the nominee in 2024 and he loathes DeStupid, so if there’s a connection that can be made to Gaetz’s criminality and scandals, Scott’s oppo people will find it and make sure it lands in the right reporters’ hands without Scott’s fingerprints on it.

    DeStupid, however, has positioned himself so that he can claim he has been fighting Joe Biden’s CHICOM funded socialist tyranny since before the inauguration. Every single thing he’s said or done in regard to COVID-19 or infrastructure or anything else since Biden was elected was to posture and position himself as the only Republican, including the other Republican governors, who has stood fast against Biden.

    The real issue is whether the Florida Democratic Party, d/b/a warm wallpaper paste, can get its act together and actually come up with a  quality candidate, who is an excellent campaigner, and doesn’t have a bunch of skeletons in his or her closet. Or whether it will do what it has done since Lawton Chile’s, which is find the worst possible person to nominate and then go with that.

    It’ll be interesting to see what David Jolly does. He’s hinted/teased a run as an independent. Full disclosure: I know Jolly, but not very well. I was a year or so ahead of him at Emory when we were undergraduates. I may have met him once or twice.

  45. 45.

    Yutsano

    @Elizabelle: ​ I was actually in an airport when that plane went down. I have never seen an airport more subdued. Also when I got to Sacramento between the construction and the Guardsmen in full combat gear with machine guns felt like a third world country*. Strangest day of flying I have ever done.

    *I’m thinking our California contingent has a joke for this here.

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Rob: He’s going to issue his edicts. While it won’t be worth the paper it is printed on, a lot will depend on law enforcement leadership and how responsive it is to individual business owners. Especially the county sheriffs.

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    Driver was brandishing a knife.  No mention yet he — and it was a he — had a gun.

    That would be refreshing.

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: Not for a while. He formally changed to no party affiliation, which is how Florida labels Independents, a while back.

  55. 55.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: It depends. If the cops are in front of the barricade, because they’d much prefer if someone just got turned around with the warren of T walls and rerouting that first went up after 9-11, then they just turn around and go on their way to where they should be rather than ramming the barricade by accident, then they were exposed targets. We don’t know yet if they were in front of the barricade in the hopes of getting the car turned around under the assumption the driver had just taken a wrong turn or whether they were to each side of it. That’s the missing detail.

    ETA: One or more cops would also approach the vehicle as it approached the barricade to check ID if it was supposed to be accessing the complex through that entrance.

  57. 57.

    burnspbesq

    Quiet week here. We’ve made it to Friday afternoon without Abbott saying anything egregiously stupid or Paxton filing a frivolous lawsuit against the Federal government.

  58. 58.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Adam L Silverman:

    “Ah’m a constimatooshinalist sheriff, and won’t enforce no things agin’ mah ‘terpretation of the constimatooshin. This here private business May be able to keep you from gittin’ a homo wedding cake, but they can’t make you wear no mask….”

  59. 59.

    VeniceRiley

    Now I’m itching to know 1) the prognosis for the officers 2) Who the perp is and what is the motive? Is there a corresponding Qrazy date or action item? 3) will any reporter challenge Republicans who have been calling for the barriers to be taken down since early last month? Does Speaker Pelosi have an I-TOLD-U-SO brooch?

  60. 60.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @VeniceRiley:

    Is there a corresponding Qrazy date or action item?

    That’s what I’ve been trying to think of: Good Friday? Some anniversary? 4/2?

  63. 63.

    Soprano2

    @Sallycat: I can’t wait to see what happens when DeSantis tries to tell Disney that they can’t ask for proof of vaccination or a Covid test in order to enter Disneyworld.

  64. 64.

    JPL

    @VeniceRiley: Mitch has already released a statement Praying for the United States Capitol Police officers who were attacked at the Capitol. We are still learning what’s taken place. Grateful to all the USCP and first responders who are on the scene.  I don’t think he is so quick to react when it’s his white friends and supporters.   I could be wrong though.

  66. 66.

    CaseyL

    @Soprano2: ​
     

    My guess is they’ll just ignore him, and continue requiring proof of vaccination or a test. But it’ll be interesting to see what happens when some MAGAt raises a stink.

  67. 67.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    MSNBC says it’s a white male, no word on the color of his hat, yet

  68. 68.

    Spanky

    Does deShithead also think that his precious executive orders can nullify Stand Your Ground laws? ‘Cause that’s going to be a fun test of those EOs.

  69. 69.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Seung Min Kim @seungminkim 4m
    Wow. For context, Capitol Police hasn’t briefed the press once about the Jan 6 insurrection.

    U.S. Capitol Police @CapitolPolice · 10m

    UPDATE: The press staging area will be at Upper Senate Park near the fountain. We are planning on a 2:45pm briefing.

  70. 70.

    AnotherBruce

    He’s in custody. I’m in shock. next  thing you tell me is he is a white male. Knock me over with  a feather.

  74. 74.

    Mike in NC

    @JPL: Never been to Camp David, but it used to get logistical support from Fort Ritchie, which I visited a few times in the late 90s as it was tied in to Site R, the Cold War underground complex. After Ritchie closed in 1998, support transferred to Fort Detrick.

  77. 77.

    pat

    “what appeared to be a knife.”

    Well I guess appearances are enough to get you shot, right?

    Weird any way you look at it.

  78. 78.

    Sloane Ranger

    There are loads of officers standing around the car. I hope they’ve checked it for explosives.

    CNN are asking why the Capitol was targeted when Congress is in recess and hardly anyone was around but a terrorist might think that this would be the ideal time for an attack since security might have been relaxed and breaching it would have been a PR coup.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    @pat: Not to condone escalating uses of force for no good reason, but the training is done under the following tactical assumptions:

    • Anyone within 21 to 33 feet that rushes you can reach you before you can draw your sidearm, aim it, and fire it.
    • Subsequently, if one is being rushed from within that range and the person doing so appears to be armed and one has no ability to safely and securely retreat, one is to bring one’s weapon to bear and fire.
    • Aimed shots under these circumstances would generally be for center of mass.

    One additional point: handgun rounds are not designed for one shot one kill types of stopping power. Unless one is an incredibly good shot and can get a hit into the “T” of the cranium, it will often take multiple rounds successfully on target from a handgun to get an assailant to stop. Usually through loss of blood volume.

  85. 85.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Sloane Ranger: How many people actually know when Congress is and is not in recess? Most people don’t even know who their member of Congress is.

  87. 87.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    “it does not appear to be terrorism related”

    I wonder how they’re defining terrorism

  90. 90.

    Cheryl Rofer

  91. 91.

    CaseyL

    Can anyone find the press conference?  It doesn’t seem to be streaming on any of the news channels.

    …never mind; it’s on C-Span

  97. 97.

    Betty Cracker

    Here’s CNN’s summary of the news conference by Yogananda Pittman, acting chief:

    “The suspect entered what we refer to as the north barricade of the Capitol. The suspect rammed his car into two of our officers and then hit the north barricade barrier,” Pittman said during a news conference this afternoon. “At such time the suspect exited the vehicle with a knife in hand. Our officers then engaged that suspect. He did not respond to verbal commands.”

    Pittman added: “The suspect did start lunging toward US Capitol Police officers, at which time US Capitol Police officers fired upon the suspect. At this time the suspect has been pronounced deceased.”

    Two US Capitol Police officers were taken to two different hospitals with injuries and one has died, Pittman said.

    “This has been an extremely difficult time for US Capitol Police after the events of Jan. 6 and now the events that have occurred here today. So I ask that you keep our US Capitol Police family in your thoughts and prayers,” Pittman added.

    Jesus.

  101. 101.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Adam L Silverman: True. That argues against this being a terrorist attack, or at least an organised terrorist attack, since I would have thought that finding out whether or not Congress was in session would be one of the 1st things any organised terrorist group would consider in their planning process.

  102. 102.

    JPL

    OT.. This is minor, but MLB is standing up for voting rights.   The All Star game will not be held in Atlanta

    Minor compared to the loss of life of the officer.

  103. 103.

    Sloane Ranger

    @prostratedragon: It appears he slammed into the barrier and then got out of the car carrying a knife which he used to attack the officers before he was shot.

  106. 106.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL:   Excellent news about MLB.

    I think sports is going to take a major lead in protesting voting infringements.  Corporations are often too timid.  Sports teams are diverse enough to be in the forefront.

    The NBA’s cancelling its games woke people up but good about the seriousness of the COVID pandemic.

  107. 107.

    craigie

    @Yutsano: 
    Not a joke, but you don’t have to go to third world countries to be in airports with armed military everywhere. I’ve seen it in Paris and London.

  109. 109.

    prostratedragon

    @Sloane Ranger:  Summary from Ms. Cracker @97 above suggests he first hit the cops, then the barrier,  before getting out and weaving about with the knife.  Hard to think he didn’t mean to hit them.  But even that needs something more definitive at some point I guess.

  111. 111.

    Elizabelle

    To this MSNBC woman going on and on about the shock of the Capitol not being as safe as supposed:  welcome to every other fucking  American workplace.

    None of us are safe against attacks, and particularly against gunfire.

  113. 113.

    jonas

    @Sallycat:  That’s just performance art for the MAGAt base. No way that’s either legal or enforceable. Non-vaccinated (or non mask-wearing) people are not a protected class when it comes to public accommodations.

  114. 114.

    trollhattan

    First thought: MAGA. Second thought: ISIS. Telling, I suppose, that they have such crossover of philosophy and tactics.
    Wednesday we had a spree killing in CA–Orange County–by a disgruntled worker who murdered three adults and a child. Back to our pre-Covid normal, I guess.​

  116. 116.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    How many people actually know when Congress is and is not in recess?

    I think you can easily get this info from Congressional web sites.

    @Sloane Ranger:

    That argues against this being a terrorist attack, or at least an organised terrorist attack, since I would have thought that finding out whether or not Congress was in session would be one of the 1st things any organised terrorist group would consider in their planning process.

    Terrorism or domestic terrorism does not require that an attack be successful or even well thought out.

    Note that I am not making any conclusions here. I also don’t know how much of this stuff might happen because mentally disturbed people get agitated by events in the news and act out.

    It’s all sad.

  117. 117.

    Feathers

    @Adam L Silverman: It’s actually fairly widely known in the DC area, because it affects the AM rush hour traffic. People add extra time to their commute if Congress is in session. Traffic reports will often mention it. Of course, this only applies to locals. Outsiders would not be optimizing travel routes and timing based on these patterns.

  118. 118.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Another Scott: The car hit the barrier hard enough to deploy the airbag.

    That’s not saying all that much. Guy could’ve been trying to stop & had his foot slip off the brake & onto the accelerator. (About 45 years ago a slipup [pun intended] like that nearly launched a car into the middle of the living room of my ground-floor apartment. [Longish story available upon request.])

    Though I gotta admit, coming out from under the airbag with a knife in one’s hands kindasorta puts the kibosh to that construal of the incident… :^p

  119. 119.

    Steve in the ATL

    @JPL: good.  Getting our shots next weekend at Mercedes Benz Stadium, which is a far better use of it than letting the Falcons play football in it.

  121. 121.

    Elizabelle

    Indiana man named Noah Green, aged 25; follower of Nation of Islam, per his Facebook page.  Despondent, has lost his job. — reporting from Pete Williams

  122. 122.

    Bruuuuce

    @Sallycat: There’s a good reason my sister in Lake Worth (who was forced to return to her job onsite in a school before she was eligible for the vaccine) calls the crook running her state DeathSantis. (ETA: She has now had her shot, so a little better. But still.)

  123. 123.

    artem1s

    @JPL:

    The All Star game will not be held in Atlanta

    good. took MLB to drag the south out of segregation.  glad to see they are taking a stand on voting rights as well.

    don’t even want to know what the NFL is planning.

  124. 124.

    Elizabelle

    Matt Gaetz has to be relieved to be off the top of the news for a while.  Only a while …

  125. 125.

    Ken

    @CaseyL: But it’ll be interesting to see what happens when some MAGAt raises a stink.

    With the Mouse Police?  He’ll disappear, and a week later another grimacing shrunken plastic figure will appear on the Small World ride.

  127. 127.

    The Moar You Know

    Not a joke, but you don’t have to go to third world countries to be in airports with armed military everywhere. I’ve seen it in Paris and London.

    @craigie:  Frankfurt Germany, 1997.  I was impressed in a “holy shit” kind of way, coming from America, where at the time we might have had one or two police cars with a cop in each one hanging out waiting for a drunk or someone taking too long to drop off the family.  The Germans were all toting MP-5 submachineguns and had full millimeter-wave scanners for both your luggage and you, and a cop was standing beside each one as you went through.

    Turns out they’d been doing that since the Lockerbie bombing, as that’s where that plane departed from.

    Nowadays, for the ultimate airport security experience, try leaving Dubai.  I got searched six times between check-in and departure.  So did everyone else.

    Haven’t been to Israel yet.

    For a true 3rd world airport security experience, I took a trip to Djibouti, aka northwest Somalia, aka Rent-A-Military Base.  They had a metal detector.  Nobody manning it.  I set it off going through.  Nobody came.  I sure hope, given the numbers of troops, both American and otherwise rolling through there, that the situation has improved but I kinda doubt it.

  128. 128.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @craigie: Not a joke, but you don’t have to go to third world countries to be in airports with armed military everywhere. I’ve seen it in Paris and London. ​

    From my very first moments overseas (Frankfurt Flughaven, August 1980) I noticed it – a large number of very pleasant and innocuous-looking security personnel on the concourse, all looking rather harmless – until you noted the small submachine guns (probably Heckler & Koch MP5’s) slung over their shoulders.

    I realized then that if any one of those very innocuous looking fellows within a few yards of me had gone berserk, I and 20-30 other peeps would likely have “assumed ambient temperature” (to quote our “Hiyo” **) before anyone could possibly have stopped him.

    (ETA: The security I saw at the Swedish Royal Palace years later looked a lot more menacing – among other things, those guys were BIG – but in the last analysis not nearly as violently armed.)

    **I believe the full form is “Hiyo Silverman, Oy Vey!” ;^D​​

  130. 130.

    JPL

    @Steve in the ATL:  They are handing out stickers at the stadium.   I didn’t get a sticker.   My son was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get vaccinated there,.

  131. 131.

    Elizabelle

    MSNBC’s coverage is becoming excessive.  This is a sad afternoon, but there are other stories out there.

  134. 134.

    Steve in the ATL

    @JPL: what are the logistics–park and go in, or it’s done in the car? How early do I need to be there? Help me!

  137. 137.

    JPL

    @Steve in the ATL: I just texted him.

    On time there’s not a line or anything

    Park for free follow the sign

     

    That was the first time he had been to the stadium, and he really was surprised how easy it was.

  139. 139.

    Ken

    @The Moar You Know: Turns out they’d been doing that since the Lockerbie bombing, as that’s where that plane departed from.

    Reminds me of the adage that armies are always prepared for the last war.  Did they have the same security at all German airports, or did they truly think that the next bombing would be done in exactly the same way?

  140. 140.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Since it’s early in the new cycle; it’s not impossible this was a suicide by cop.

  141. 141.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Dresden, July 1990 (reunification – 60 days or so). Inexpensive room in a nice hotel (the Gewandthaus IIRC) with facilities down the hall. No TV but an East German radio … with one setting.

    (I dropped by the Gewandthaus on a trip thru Saxony a few years back. Chatted with the staff, picked up a brochure. I would’ve needed a second mortgage to stay there then, so I kept on going.)

  142. 142.

    jonas

    @The Moar You Know: The Lockerbie bombing certainly heightened security around checking luggage and all that, but European airports had a pretty heavy military (or heavily armed police) presence in airports since the 1985 Rome-Vienna attacks.

  144. 144.

    Ksmiami

    @jonas: Frankfurt airport, August 1985. Bomb threat and the scariest thing I’ve witnessed  is seeing German security guards with Ak-47s and German Shepherds – just yikes

  145. 145.

    Jeffro

    @Steve in the ATL:Getting our shots next weekend at Mercedes Benz Stadium, which is a far better use of it than letting the Falcons play football in it.

    win

    also true

  146. 146.

    Rob

    It’s unfortunate that one of the officers has died. I’m hoping the other one doesn’t.

  147. 147.

    James E Powell

    @Ksmiami:

    July 1991. Beograd Airport on my way back from a month in the soon-to-be departed CCCP. Soldiers everywhere. It was like a movie except in the movies the soldiers are always steely eyed, square-jawed men, late 20s, early 30s. These were jumpy looking high school kids.

  148. 148.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    By far the most thorough security experience I’ve ever had was in 1980 on a visit to Israel. It was already pretty intense at departure from JFK, but that was policy of the airline (El Al) more than the airport. Security at Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) is beyond anything I’ve seen or heard about in Europe or North America.

    Of course it was 41 years ago, and things were especially tense then because of the hostages in Iran, but I have no reason to believe it’s less so now. Probably more so, if anything.

    Everyone was very professional — polite and efficient — but you’d be a fool to fuck with them or even crack a joke. And it didn’t escape my awareness that virtually every Israeli citizen, whether airport security or not, had had military training.

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