A wrecked Capitol Police car blocks Constitution Avenue NW following a shooting on Capitol Hill in Washington.

A wrecked Capitol Police car blocks Constitution Avenue NW following a shooting on Capitol Hill in Washington. Charles Dharapak/AP

Tension Turns to Chaos After Shooting Near Capitol

34-year-old Connecticut woman killed after a car chase did not have a gun.

Tension over the budget impasse abruptly turned to chaos on Capitol Hill Thursday, as a woman was shot and killed by police after a fierce car chase, with her 1-year-old child as a passenger.

But many questions were unanswered late Thursday, hours after the U.S. House gave Capitol Police and other law enforcement officers a standing ovation in the chamber when the episode was finished.

Multiple news accounts named the woman as Miriam Carey, a 34-year-old dental hygienist from Stamford, Conn., who reportedly worked in Connecticut prisons. Why the woman hit a White House security barrier with her car and fled afterward, precipitating the chase from the White House to the Capitol area, remained unclear. She did not have a gun, a law enforcement officer confirmed, and the exact details of her shooting were not being released.

One Capitol Police officer and one Secret Service officer were injured in the incident. The officer was hurt after his car hit a barricade in the pursuit, and the Secret Service officer was injured when struck by the woman's car, police said. The child, a girl, was brought into the Capitol before being transferred to a hospital, an is in good condition in protective custody, authorities said during a Thursday night press conference.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier declined to comment on details of how and why the woman was shot. Lanier said the event was believed to be an isolated incident, but that it was no "accident." She and U.S. Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine declined to elaborate.

The chase began when the woman acted suspiciously and ignored law enforcement's instructions, according to Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terry Gainer. She struck a White House security barrier and was chased by Secret Service agents until the pursuit ended on Connecticut Avenue just below Capitol Hill.

There were two episodes of gunfire along the path of the 12-block chase, both involving multiple shots, a law enforcement official said. All the shots were fired by police trying to stop her, the official said. "A car can be a deadly weapon," one officer remarked.

At least one lawmaker said more details of the shooting should be released. "As a lawyer, if I were representing her family, [I would] call for a complete investigation," said Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla. He added that he can only hope "the baby doesn't have memories of this. I sure do hope that. No disrespect to the police involved. But boy, I tell you--I live in South Florida and those chases cause immeasurable damage."

Many lawmakers were inside the House chamber when word of the shooting outside prompted a lockdown of the building. Uncertainty prevailed about what was going on; some lawmakers on the floor first learned of the shots from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who went member-to-member to let them know. House and Senate office buildings also went into a lock-down.

Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., had been on the balcony of the Speaker's Lobby, talking with Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., about the government shutdown when he heard a commotion coming from the direction of the Rayburn building.

"It sounded like fireworks, a big fireworks display, and then we realized, that's not fireworks," Connolly said. "It sounded more like the first volley of a 21-gun salute—seven-seven-seven—because it was very close together, a loud burst."

Connolly saw "armed police with their weapons drawn" running toward Rayburn, while people ran in the other direction toward the Capitol.

The Capitol Complex was in lockdown only briefly, and was reopened quickly. An armored vehicle sat on the plaza, but tourists with bikes were walking about as well. A Capitol Police car that had obviously been involved with a crash was at the corner of Constitution and First Streets NW and cordoned off.

The Capitol Police officer was taken by helicopter to the hospital, but "does not appear to have life-threatening injuries," Gainer said.

"Thankfully," Gainer also said, "it does not appear to be terrorism-related."

Michael Catalini contributed to this article.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.