Officials denounce U.S. Capitol riot

SHELTON — Local lawmakers joined the chorus of people from all walks of American life denouncing the violence spurred by proTrump supporters at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday.

Rioters, spurred on by President Donald Trump, stormed the seat of U.S. government to disrupt Congress counting the electoral votes that give Joe Biden’s election victory its last acknowledgment.

Police eventually cleared the Capitol building. One person was shot to death, three others died from unspecified medical causes. Some 56 police officers were injured; nearly 85 people were arrested on charges ranging from violating curfew and unlawful entry to carrying a pistol without a permit.

Afterward, Trump tweeted that there would be “an orderly transition” of power on Jan. 20.

Members of Congress, including Democrat U.S.

Reps. Jim Himes and Rosa DeLauro, were forced into hiding as offices were ransacked, and the formal congressional tally of Electoral College votes was stopped for more than six hours.

“It was a very sad day in America,” said Alderman David Gidwani, a Republican who has crossed the aisle on occasion to vote with Democrats on specific issues, most recently the fight against proposed charter revisions.

“I feel sorry for the lives that were lost,” Gidwani added. “At the end of the day we are all Americans ... not blue or red states ... but the United States. We need to accept Joe Biden as the 46th president of the U.S.A. and support and work with the administration for a better future we leave for the next generation.”