- An unidentified man is dead after shooting himself during the incident
- It happened just before 4 a.m. on Sunday at a vehicle barricade at East Capitol Street and 2nd Street in Washington, D.C.
- The man drove his vehicle into a barricade which caught fire as he emerged
- He began firing shots into the air and as police approached, he shot himself
- No other injuries were reported and police do not believe officers returned fire
- A motive for the man's actions is not yet known, but police are investigating
A man is dead after he drove his car into a barricade near the U.S.
Capitol in Washington, D.C. and then began firing gunshots in the air as he emerged from the burning car before fatally shooting himself.
The incident happened just before 4 a.m. on Sunday at a vehicle barricade set up at East Capitol Street and 2nd Street in Washington.
Capitol Police said the man, whose identity has not been released, crashed into the barricade and that as he was getting out of the car, the vehicle became engulfed in flames.
The man then opened fire, firing several shots into the air as police approached. He then turned the gun on himself and was later pronounced dead.
No other injuries were reported and police do not believe any officers returned fire. A motive for the incident is not known at this time, but police are investigating.
Police said in a statement: 'it does not appear the man was targeting any member of Congress' and that investigators are examining the man's background as they work to try to discern a motive.
Both the House and Senate are in recess and very few staff members work in the Capitol complex at that hour.
The shooting comes at a time when law enforcement authorities across the country are facing an increasing number of threats and federal officials have warned about the potential of violent attacks on government buildings in the days since the FBI's search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The attack is reminiscent of an incident when a man drove a vehicle into two Capitol Police officers at a checkpoint in April 2021, killing Officer William 'Billy' Evans, 41, who was an 18-year veteran of the force.
The driver, Noah Green, 25, came out of the car with a knife and was shot to death by a third police officer after he lunged at him. Investigators believe Green had been delusional and increasingly having suicidal thoughts.
Evans, a father of two, grew up in North Adams, Massachusetts, a close-knit town of about 13,000 in the northwest part of the state.
His death came nearly three months after the January 6 rioting at the Capitol that left five people dead, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died a day after the insurrection.
Barbed wire fencing had surrounded the Capitol for months after pro-Trump rioters stormed the building.
The fencing has since been removed and thousands of National Guard troops who had been deployed in response to the January insurrection have since returned home, but many on Capitol Hill remain on edge.
www.dailymail.co.uk
