Officer killed in US Capitol car-ramming attack
WASHINGTON, April 3, ( AFP) - A US Capitol police officer was killed and a second injured Friday after a vehicle rammed through security and crashed into a barrier at the Washington complex, forcing it into lockdown less than three months after a mob assault on Congress.
Capitol Police shot dead the driver after he jumped out of the car and lunged at them with a knife, Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman told reporters.
President Joe Biden, who was with first lady Jill Biden at Camp David for the Easter holiday, offered his “heartfelt condolences” to the family of William
Evans, the veteran policeman killed in the attack.
“Jill and I were heartbroken to learn of the violent attack at a security checkpoint on the US Capitol grounds,” Biden said in a statement.
US media said officials had identified the attacker as Noah Green, a 25-year-old Black man from Indiana and an adherent of the Black nationalist Nation of Islam movement.
Pittman said there was no immediate indication of his motivation or police file on him. “It does not appear to be terrorism-related, but we will continue to investigate,” Washington Metropolitan Police Chief
Robert Contee added.
Some of Green's online postings in March suggested a level of despair and paranoia. He said he was unemployed and had health problems, and made references to biblical concepts of the end of times.
The attack came with scars still raw and security tight after
the January assault on Congress by hundreds of supporters of then- President Donald Trump.
National Guard troops were mobilized and staff at the Capitol complex ordered to stay away from windows and seek cover after alerts went out over the incident.