WASHINGTON (AP) – Capitol Police officers say a man was shot by police after drawing a weapon at a U.S. Capitol checkpoint.
He was taken to the hospital.
A female bystander also sustained minor injuries.
Initial reports said a police officer sustained minor injuries, but later reports raised doubts about who, if anyone, was shot.
Chief of Police Matthew R. Verderosa tells reporters that the suspect was known to police. However, he would not confirm reports that it was the same man who disrupted the House chamber last fall by shouting. Law-enforcement sources identified the suspect to NBC News as 66-year-old Larry Russell Dawson, from Antioch, Tenn.
The shooting started around 2:30 pm after the man set off an alarm while going through a metal detector and “drew what appeared to be a weapon and pointed it at a police officer,” Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa said. The gunman was immediately shot by a police officer. His condition is unknown.
Visitors were being turned away from the Capitol as emergency vehicles flooded the street and the plaza on the building’s eastern side. Police, some carrying long guns, cordoned off the streets immediately around the building, which were thick with tourists visiting for spring holidays and the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Cathryn Leff of Temicula, California, in town to lobby with the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, said she was going through security at the main entrance to the Capitol Visitors Center when police told people to leave immediately.
Outside, on the plaza just to the east of the Capitol, other officers told those there to “get down behind this wall,” she said. “I heard what sounded like two shots off to my left.” After a while police told her and others to keep running. “I felt like I was in a movie. It didn’t feel real at all.”
Traffic was jammed in the vicinity, but despite the obvious emergency the scene was relatively calm. A work crew on the north side of the Supreme Court, across the street, was asked to stop work and move away from the building as a precaution.
Capitol Police did not immediately return calls seeking clarification about the incident.
From back home in their districts many lawmakers got in touch with staff to ensure all were safe, and posted thanks on Twitter as it appeared they were.
Earlier in the day, officials conducted an unrelated shelter-in-place drill at the Capitol.Associated Press writers Mark Sherman, Mary Clare Jalonick and Alan Fram contributed to this report.Keep checking NBC4i.com for real-time updates on this story. To get alerts for breaking news, grab the free NBC4 News App for iPhone or Android. You can also sign up for email alerts.What others are clicking on:
