Deadly day at Capitol
Driver rams two at barricade, stabs one; shots fell suspect
U.S. Capitol Police officers gather near a car that crashed into a barrier Friday near the U.S. Capitol complex after the vehicle struck two Capitol Police officers. One died later at a hospital. Officers shot and killed the knife-wielding assailant during the incident that put the Capitol on lockdown. More photos at arkansasonline.com/43dc/.
WASHINGTON — A Capitol Police officer was killed Friday after a man rammed a car into two officers at a barricade outside the U.S. Capitol and then emerged wielding a knife. It was the second line-of-duty death this year for a department still struggling to heal from the January insurrection.
Video shows the driver of the crashed car emerging with a knife in his hand and starting to run at the pair of officers, Capitol Police Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman told reporters. Authorities shot the suspect, who died at a hospital.
Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that the suspect stabbed one of the officers. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the pending investigation and spoke on condition of an- onymity.
“I just ask that the public continue to keep U.S. Capitol Police and their families in your prayers,” Pittman said. “This has been an extremely difficult time for U.S. Capitol Police after the events of Jan. 6 and now the events that have occurred here today.”
Police identified the slain of- ficer as William “Billy” Evans, an 18-year veteran who was a member of the department’s first responders unit.
Authorities said there wasn’t an ongoing threat and that the attack did not appear to be related to terrorism, though the Capitol was put on lockdown as a precaution. There was also no immediate connection apparent between Friday’s crash and the January riot.
The crash and shooting happened at a security checkpoint near the Capitol typically used by senators and staff on weekdays, though most are away during the current recess. The attack occurred about 100 yards from the entrance on the Senate side of the Capitol. One witness, the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, said he was finishing a Good Friday service nearby when he suddenly heard three shots ring out.
The incident comes as the Washington region remains on edge nearly three months after a mob of armed insurrectionists loyal to former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol as Congress was voting to certify Joe Biden’s presidential win.
Five people died in the Jan. 6 riot, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who was among a badly outnumbered force trying to fight off insurrectionists seeking to overturn the election.
Authorities installed a tall perimeter fence around the Capitol and for months restricted traffic along the roads closest to the building, but they had begun pulling back some of the emergency measures in recent weeks. Fencing that prevented vehicular traffic near that area was recently removed.
Law enforcement officials identified the slain suspect as 25-year-old Noah Green. Investigators were digging into the suspect’s background and examining whether he had any mental health history as they tried to discern a motive. They were working to obtain warrants to access his online accounts.
Pittman said the suspect did not appear to have been on police radar. But the attack underscores that the building and campus — and the officers charged with protecting them — remain potential targets for violence.
Evans is the seventh Capitol Police member to die in the line of duty in the department’s history, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. Two officers, one from Capitol Police and another from Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department, died by suicide following the Jan. 6 attack.
Almost 140 Capitol Police officers were wounded then, including officers not issued helmets who sustained head injuries and one officer with cracked ribs, according to the officers’ union. It took hours for the National Guard to arrive, a delay that has driven months of finger-pointing between key decision-makers that day.