Capitol Lockdown Lifted After Gunfire
INCIDENT BEGAN NEAR WHITE HOUSE BARRICADE
By Polly Davis Doig, Newser Staff
newser.com
( I hope Simplicity is OK! )
Posted Oct 3, 2013 1:43 PM CDT | Updated Oct 3, 2013 2:16 PM CDT
(NEWSER) – Police have lifted a security lockdown at the US Capitol after gunfire rang out on Capitol Hill this afternoon. Details were still developing, but it doesn't appear to be related to terrorism. Eyewitnesses say that they saw police fire on a black sedan near the Hart Senate Office Building and that an adult and a child were taken into custody, reports Politico. The adult appeared to be seriously wounded by gunfire. Whatever happened seemed to start near the White House. CNN says police stopped the car there, or tried to, but the female driver sped off toward the Capitol. Politico's report quotes Secret Service as saying the car hit a White House gate, and the AP says the driver tried to get through a security barricade that keeps vehicles off Pennsylvania Avenue.
“It was almost like two very rapid fire bursts, very loud,” says Rep. Gerry Connolly, who heard the gunfire while standing on a Capitol balcony, reports the Washington Post. “That’s when we saw people fleeing, and we realized this was no fireworks. It sounded liked the first volley of a 21-gun salute.” It now appears that all the gunfire came from police. The lockdown, during which police advised people to "shelter in place," was in effect for about a half-hour. One officer was reportedly injured in a car crash. |
