Nation & World Glance
WASHINGTON — The man who rammed a car into two officers at a barricade outside the U.S. Capitol, killing one of them before he was shot to death by police, had been suffering from delusions, paranoia and suicidal thoughts, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Saturday. Investigators believe it was an isolated incident from a disturbed young man.
Video of the Friday afternoon attack shows the driver emerging from the crashed car with a knife in his hand and starting to run at the pair of officers, Capitol Police acting Chief Yogananda Pittman told reporters. Police shot the suspect, 25-year-old Noah Green, who died at a hospital. Investigators are increasingly focused on Green’s mental health as they work to identify any motive for the attack, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation and spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity. The official said investigators had talked to Green’s family, who spoke of his increasingly delusional thoughts.
In online posts since removed, Green described being under government thought control and said he was being watched. He described himself as a follower of the Nation of Islam and its longtime leader, Louis Farrakhan, and spoke of going through a difficult time when he leaned on his faith. Some of the messages were captured by the group SITE, which tracks online activity.
“To be honest these past few years have been tough, and these past few months have been tougher,” he wrote in late March. “I have been tried with some of the biggest, unimaginable tests in my life. I am currently now unemployed after I left my job partly due to afflictions, but ultimately, in search of a spiritual journey.”
Jordan prince says he’s confined, lashes out at authorities
AMMAN, Jordan — The half-brother of Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Saturday he has been placed under house arrest and accused the country’s “ruling system” of incompetence and corruption, exposing a rare rift within the ruling monarchy of a close Western ally.
Prince Hamzah’s videotaped statement came after the country’s official news agency reported that two former senior officials and other suspects had been arrested for “security reasons,” even as authorities denied that Hamzah had been detained or placed under house arrest.
In a video leaked to the British Broadcasting Corp., Hamzah — a former crown prince stripped of his title in 2004 — said he was visited early Saturday by the country’s military chief and told he was not allowed to go out, communicate with people or meet with them. He said his security detail was removed, and his phone and Internet service had been cut. He said he was speaking over satellite Internet and expected that service to be cut as well. The BBC said it received the statement from Hamzah’s lawyer.