Maryland sends troops to D. C. in response to U. S. Capitol takeover.
National Guard, local police head to DC in response to assault and takeover
Maryland state troopers and other regional law enforcement agencies are being sent to assist DC law enforcement at the U.S. Capitol after Trump supporters stormed the building in a bid to overturn the presidential election.
Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said he was sending in 200 state troopers and had instructed the adjutant general of the Maryland National Guard “to call up a rapid response force to support law enforcement and restore order.” Five hundred members of the Guard were being sent, according to a spokesman for the governor.
“All Americans should be outraged by this attack on our nation’s Capitol,” Hogan said. “This is a heinous and violent assault on the heart of our democracy. I will not stand for this, and neither should any American.”
Officers from other regional police departments were joining as part of a “task force,” said Officer Jen Peach, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore County Police Department, which was sending 17 officers.
Dozens of people clashed with police at the Capitol and breached security perimeters, entering the building and roaming the halls of Congress as a crowd of thousands surrounded the building following a rally led by President Trump.
Lawmakers inside the House chamber were told to put on gas masks as tear gas was fired in the Rotunda. One person was shot inside the building, police confirmed.
DC imposed a 6 p.m. curfew. “We are advising everyone that is not engaged in essential activities to get off the street and adhere to the curfew,” DC Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said at an evening news conference.
The Anne Arundel County Police department has not been asked to send officers to the Capitol, said County Executive Steuart Pittman. Sgt. Kam Cooke, a police spokesman, said county police are expecting to be called in to help at some point.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said he had spoken to DC Mayor Muriel Boswer to offer support
Howard County police said they had been requested by DC authorities and would not disclose how many officers it was sending.
FBI agents from the Baltimore field office have been deployed to D.C. to assist U.S. Capitol Police, an FBI spokeswoman said.
Prince George’s County police and Harford County sheriff’s deputies said they were on standby.
“If activated by MPD we will aide and securing the area of which were called to assist,” officer Antonia Washington, a Prince
George’s County police spokeswoman, said in a statement.
“At the request of the Maryland State Police, we have committed members of our Mobile Field Force Team to assist with the civil unrest in Washington, DC. We are ready and will wait for deployment orders,” said Cristie Hopkins, a spokesperson for the Harford County Sheriff ’s Office.