Officer dies after man rams barricade
By Peter Hermann, Matt Zapotosky, Michelle Boorstein and Jessica Contrera
One Capitol Police officer was killed and another injured Friday when a vehicle rammed into them near the U.S. Capitol, an attack that once again put the city on edge as threats stemming from the deadly insurrection in January had started to wane.
The slain officer was identified as William Evans, a native of North Adams, Mass., and an 18-year veteran who a neighbor said was the father of two children. It was not immediately clear how he was fatally injured.
Acting U.S. Capitol Police chief Yogananda Pittman said after the officers were struck, a man exited the vehicle with a knife and started lunging. She
said at least one police officer opened fire, killing the suspect.
Several people familiar with the investigation identified the suspect as Noah Green, who shared an apartment with his brother in Virginia. The brother said Green, who is in his 20s, struggled with drug use and paranoia and his family worried about his mental state.
The suspect was not known to either District of Columbia or Capitol police, according to authorities. “It does not appear to be terrorism related,” acting District police chief Robert Contee III told reporters.
The incident occurred shortly after 1 p.m. on Constitution Avenue near the Russell Senate office building, once again drawing hundreds of police officers and plunging the sprawling Capitol complex into lockdown, with people inside buildings told to stay away from exterior windows, and those outside warned to “seek cover.”
Parishioners at St. Joseph’s parish, across the street from the Capitol, were told to stay put after Rev. Bill Gurnee had bowed as the last act of Mass on Good Friday.
Authorities lifted the lockdown about 3:15 p.m., though parts of Constitution Avenue and other streets remained closed. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-calif., ordered flags at the White House and at the Capitol to be flown at half-staff. Evans is the sixth member of the Capitol police force to die in the line of duty.
“Today, America’s heart has been broken by the tragic and heroic death of one of our Capitol Police heroes,” Pelosi said in a statement, calling Evans “a martyr for our democracy.”
Biden said in a statement he was being briefed on the investigation by a Homeland Security adviser. He and first lady Jill Biden said they are “heartbroken” by the attack and Evans’s death.
The attack comes less than three months after the Jan. 6 insurrection that left five people dead, including Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick. Two police officers who had been at the riot later died by suicide.
Pelosi added that officers once again “risked their lives to protect our Capitol and our Country, with the same extraordinary selflessness and spirit of service seen on January 6.”
“I’m heartbroken for the officer killed today defending our Capitol and for his family,” said Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “I’m praying for the officer injured and his family. We’re in their debt.”
The Capitol Police labor committee called the circumstances of Evans’s death a “catastrophic example of the risks” officers take “putting themselves in harm’s way to protect our Capitol, its occupants, and the seat of democracy itself.”
A blue sedan remained at the scene, with its taillights flashing and trunk open, surrounded by crime scene tape, near the temporary fence and at a permanent police checkpoint.
At a news conference outside the Capitol, Pittman said the driver of the vehicle entered what is called the North Barricade “and rammed into two officers” before hitting a barrier.
Steve Brown, a 60-year high school physics teacher at Herndon High School in Virginia, said he was driving on Constitution Avenue and saw the vehicle strike the officers.
He said he parked, got out and walked toward the barricade. He said the suspect got out of the blue vehicle with a silverblade knife in his right hand. He said the knife appeared to be at least 10 inches long.
Brown said the man walked toward him, and that he backed up. He said the suspect turned and headed back toward the barricade, where he was shot.
Pittman said the suspect did not respond to verbal commands before the officers fired.
Both injured officers were taken to hospitals, where Evans died. “Please keep the U.S. Capitol Police in your prayers,” Pittman said.
The suspect, Green, was a onetime defensive back on Christopher Newport University’s football team who later moved to Indianapolis, and then to Botswana before calling his brother in Virginia seeking help, his brother said.
His brother said Green had suffered hallucinations, heart palpitations, headaches and suicidal thoughts that could have related to drugs or mental illness. Green wrote on his Facebook page that he had embarked on a spiritual journey and that “these past few years have been tough, and these past few months have been tougher.”
Green listed himself as a “Follower of Farrahkan” on his Facebook page. His last post links to a video by the Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad that Green said was a “divine warning to us all during these last days of our world as we know it.”