Washington, April 2 Acting Director of the U.S. Capitol Police said on the 2nd local time that a suspect drove to the police outside the U.S. Capitol that afternoon, causing the death of one congressional policeman and the injury of a congressional policeman. The suspect has been shot dead.
Yogananda Pittman, Acting Director of the U.S. Capitol Police Department, described the incident at a press conference on the same day. Pittman said the suspect drove into two Capitol policemen and then hit a roadblock on the north side of the Capitol. After getting out of the car, the suspect stabbed the Capitol Police with a knife, and then died after being hit by the Capitol Police.
Pittman said that two congressional police officers were immediately taken to the hospital after being injured, one of whom had died.
Pittman also said that since the violent assault of demonstrators on Congress on January 6, “the congressional police have been in an extremely difficult state, and this has happened today”. She hopes that the people pray for the Capitol Police and their families.
Robert Contee, acting director of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., said at a press conference that the incident that day “seems not to be related to terrorism”, but still needs to be investigated for suspects’ motives.
The Capitol Police Department subsequently issued a statement confirming the identity of the policemen killed. The policeman is William Evans, who has been a police officer in the Capitol Police Department for 18 years.
According to the U.S. media quoting people familiar with the matter, the suspect in the incident has been identified as a 25-year-old man named Noah Green.
After the incident, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Pelosi asked Congress to lower the flag at half-mast to pay tribute to the dead police. U.S. President Biden issued an article saying that he was “heartbroken” and asked the White House to lower the flag at half-mast to mourn.
On January 6 this year, during the National Assembly counted the votes of the presidential election, demonstrators violently stormed Congress, killing at least five people. After the incident, Congress took a series of measures to strengthen security, including setting up a 2-meter iron fence around Congress, sealing roads, patrolling by the National Guard, and restricting access to people.
Recently, Congress began to dismantle the outer iron fence and lift the road. The outer fence of the Capitol is still maintained and the National Guard is still stationed.
