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World & Nation

Driver killed in U.S. Capitol shooting, officials confirm

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Police officers attend to an officer in a cruiser that was wrecked after shots fired were reported near the U.S. Capitol in Washington.  (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)
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A police officer, with gun in position, keeps watch after a report of shots fired outside the Capitol in Washington.  (Alex Leary / Associated Press)
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A view of a car involved in a shooting on Capitol Hill.  (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)
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A crashed black car sits after a shooting incident near the U.S. Capitol in Washington. A motorist attempted to get through security barriers near the White House and was chased to the Capitol, where shots were fired, according to reports citing the US Secret Service.  (Michael Reynolds / EPA)
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Police are posted outside the U.S. Capitol as the area is secured.  (Shawn Thew / EPA)
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Police rush into position on Capitol Hill after shots were fired outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C.   (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)
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Tourists flee the Capitol area as police survey the scene after shots were fired.   (Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images)
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People take cover as gunshots are heard at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The Capitol was placed on lockdown Thursday after shots were fired outside the complex, senators said.   (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)
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Capitol Hill police and medics take a shooting victim away on a stretcher on Capitol Hill in Washington.  (Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images)
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People run after hearing gunshots near the U.S. Capitol in Washington.  (ShawnThew / EPA)
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A man runs for cover as a police officer takes a shooting position at on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images)
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Police gather on Capitol Hill in Washington after shots were reported fired near 2nd Street NW and Constitution Avenue.   (Brenden Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)
By Richard Simon, Michael A. Memoli, Lisa Mascaro and David Lauter
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<i> This post has been updated. See below for details. </i>

WASHINGTON -- A driver who appears to have tried to ram her car through security barriers near the White House was shot and killed by police outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday afternoon, law enforcement officials said.

Two police officers, one from the Secret Service and the other from the U.S. Capitol Police, were injured in the incident, both apparently from car crashes. Both are in good condition, officials said. A 1-year old child who was in the car is also in good condition and was taken into protective custody, officials said.

“This does not appear to be in any way an accident,” District of Columbia Police Chief Cathy Lanier told reporters at a news conference several hours after the shooting. There were “two security perimeters that were attempted to be breached” at the White House and then at the Capitol, she said.

LIVE: Real-time updates on shooting, shutdown

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The car, a black sedan with Connecticut license plates, initially “tried to gain access” to the White House complex, hitting a post that is part of the outer perimeter of the security barriers there, Ed Donovan of the Secret Service told reporters. After being confronted by officers, the driver fled down Pennsylvania Avenue with Secret Service officers in pursuit.

The driver, a woman in her 30s who has not been identified, then backed into a police cruiser at a traffic circle near the foot of Capitol Hill on the west side of the Capitol building. Video shot by Al Hurra, an Arabic-language television station sponsored by the U.S. government, showed police attempting to surround the car, which sped off.

Officers fired at the car. At least six shots could be heard on the video. The driver continued across Capitol Hill, coming to a stop near the Supreme Court building on the east side of the Capitol. She was shot and killed there, Lanier said.

[Updated Oct. 3, 5:25 p.m.: The Hartford Courant reported Thursday night that according to a source with knowledge of the investigation, the driver of the car was Miriam Carey, 34, a trained dental hygienist who lived in Stamford. The Courant said she appeared to have lived most of her adult life in Brooklyn, N.Y. Two years ago, she formed a home-based business, Experienced Dental Placements, which appeared to operate as a temporary employment firm, the paper said.]

Lawmakers and witnesses described the Washington incident.

“It sounded like fireworks, like a big fireworks display,” said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), who heard the shots from the balcony off the House chamber while talking to another congressman about the government shutdown. “But one had the feeling it could be gunshots.”

“We saw citizens fleeing this way and police going that way,” he said.

The shooting, which came just two weeks after a shooter killed a dozen people at the nearby Washington Navy Yard, led Capitol Police to order the U.S. Capitol locked down for about half an hour.

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The House had just finishing voting for the day and lawmakers were clearing out. Lawmakers rushed back into the building and security hustled to secure the chambers.

Police also cleared people from Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, pushing tourists into Lafayette Park. The White House ordered people to remain inside.

People outside the Capitol could be seen running, as police cars with flashing red lights sped down Constitution Avenue. The House and Senate proceedings stopped, and Capitol police officers ran through the building directing staff to stay in their offices.

An email sent to staff by Capitol Police about 2:30 p.m. advised: “Gunshots have been reported on Capitol Hill requiring all occupants in all House Office Buildings to shelter in place.”

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richard.simon@latimes.com

michael.memoli@latimes.com

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

Times staff writer Christi Parsons contributed to this report.

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World & Nation
Richard Simon

Richard Simon is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times.

Michael A. Memoli

Michael A. Memoli worked in the Los Angeles Times’ Washington, D.C., bureau from 2010-17, where he covered the White House, the 2016 presidential campaign, and national politics based in D.C. (plus a dozen or so swing states in presidential election years). A New Jersey native, he graduated from Loyola University in Maryland.

Lisa Mascaro

Lisa Mascaro previously covered Congress in Washington, D.C., for the Los Angeles Times. She left in February 2018. A Los Angeles-area native, she has reported across Southern California, edited, traveled the States and worked in Texas. While the Washington correspondent for the Las Vegas Sun, she contributed as the paper won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. An economics and political science graduate of UC Santa Barbara, she also studied in Budapest, Hungary.

David Lauter

David Lauter writes the Saturday Los Angeles Times Politics newsletter from Washington, D.C. He began writing news in Washington in 1981 and has covered Congress, the Supreme Court, the White House under Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and six U.S. presidential campaigns. He served as Washington bureau chief from 2011-20. Lauter lived in Los Angeles from 1995 to 2011, where he was The Times’ deputy Foreign editor, deputy Metro editor and then assistant managing editor responsible for California coverage.

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