WASHINGTON — The woman who led police on a high-speed chase that ended near the U.S. Capitol building has been pronounced dead, Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said Thursday evening.
The pursuit ended when police fired shots at the suspect at a traffic circle near the Capitol building, and then again on the corner of Maryland and 1st Street NE only a few blocks away.
Two officers were injured during the incident: one was a Secret Service agent and the other, a 23-year veteran of the U.S. Capitol Police, Chief Kim Dine said. The injured Capitol Police officer, Dine added, “is doing well.”
Police located a 1-year-old girl inside the suspect’s car, a black Infiniti sedan with Connecticut plates. The child was not injured, police and the Secret Service said, but was taken to a local hospital after the car crashed.
Authorities did not identify the suspect at an early evening press conference, but the Associated Press reported that Stamford, Conn., Mayor Michael Pavia said the FBI was searching a Stamford address in connection with the investigation. Police cordoned off a condominium building and the surrounding neighborhood.
The incident, which began around 2:20 p.m. ET, initially led to a shelter-in-place warning at all U.S. Capitol office buildings, but the warning was later lifted.
“We have no information that this is related to terrorism or is anything other than an isolated incident,” Dine told reporters. But law enforcement authorities also said the chase appeared “to be no accident."
The matter is currently under investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department, with assistance from U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI and the Secret Service.
Earlier Tim Wilson, a spokesperson with the District of Columbia Fire and EMS Department, told Yahoo News that medical personnel transported one patient from the scene who suffered life-threatening injuries. He would not disclose the gender of the patient or the nature of the injuries.
The pursuit ended when police fired shots at the suspect at a traffic circle near the Capitol building, and then again on the corner of Maryland and 1st Street NE only a few blocks away.
Two officers were injured during the incident: one was a Secret Service agent and the other, a 23-year veteran of the U.S. Capitol Police, Chief Kim Dine said. The injured Capitol Police officer, Dine added, “is doing well.”
Police located a 1-year-old girl inside the suspect’s car, a black Infiniti sedan with Connecticut plates. The child was not injured, police and the Secret Service said, but was taken to a local hospital after the car crashed.
Authorities did not identify the suspect at an early evening press conference, but the Associated Press reported that Stamford, Conn., Mayor Michael Pavia said the FBI was searching a Stamford address in connection with the investigation. Police cordoned off a condominium building and the surrounding neighborhood.
The incident, which began around 2:20 p.m. ET, initially led to a shelter-in-place warning at all U.S. Capitol office buildings, but the warning was later lifted.
“We have no information that this is related to terrorism or is anything other than an isolated incident,” Dine told reporters. But law enforcement authorities also said the chase appeared “to be no accident."
The matter is currently under investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department, with assistance from U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI and the Secret Service.
Earlier Tim Wilson, a spokesperson with the District of Columbia Fire and EMS Department, told Yahoo News that medical personnel transported one patient from the scene who suffered life-threatening injuries. He would not disclose the gender of the patient or the nature of the injuries.
Police could be seen swarming the grounds near the Capitol Building with guns drawn as the incident unfolded.
Yahoo News reporter Chris Moody was outside the Capitol when he heard three shots ring out.
About half a dozen police cars sped west down Constitution Avenue toward the scene. Moments later, other police vehicles sped back the other way.
Capitol Police told tourists and staffers near the Capitol Building to walk south past the U.S. House's congressional offices, and all buildings were locked down.
"Close, lock and stay away from external doors and windows," the alert issued early Thursday afternoon, read. "Take your annunciators, emergency supply kits or go kits, and escape hoods. Move to your office's shelter in place location or the innermost part of your office suites and check in with your OEC." Other staffers waited outside until the lockdown was lifted.
Capitol Police told tourists and staffers near the Capitol Building to walk south past the U.S. House's congressional offices, and all buildings were locked down.
"Close, lock and stay away from external doors and windows," the alert issued early Thursday afternoon, read. "Take your annunciators, emergency supply kits or go kits, and escape hoods. Move to your office's shelter in place location or the innermost part of your office suites and check in with your OEC." Other staffers waited outside until the lockdown was lifted.
One eyewitness told Yahoo News she saw a black car being chased by police, who had surrounded the car as the shots rang out.
"Police were shooting at [the car]," a witness told Yahoo News. "They had [the driver] blocked up and he kept going around the Capitol Building and around and around. Then I heard a loud crash on the other side of the Capitol."
Another witness said police began shooting when the car sped off after being trapped.
"We saw a black car and a couple of cop cars behind him," that witness said. "He kind of got stuck in front of the Capitol building where the pillars are. The cops got out of their car and surrounded [the suspect] and started yelling. Somehow [the car] turned around and almost hit a couple of them and that's when the cops started shooting."
The woman raced to the Capitol after a 2:12 p.m. incident in which her car struck temporary fencing and a Uniformed Secret Service officer at an outer perimeter check point near the White House, said Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary.She fled, with Uniformed Secret Service agents in pursuit vehicles.
Outside the White House, white-uniformed agents of the Secret Service kept tourists across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House gates, behind crowd barriers typically deployed when a visiting head of state is staying at Blair House, nearby.
Outside the White House, white-uniformed agents of the Secret Service kept tourists across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House gates, behind crowd barriers typically deployed when a visiting head of state is staying at Blair House, nearby.
Yahoo reporters Jason Sickles and Olivier Knox contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/capitol-hill-on-lockdown-after-reports-of-shots-fired-183834445.html
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