Woman slain after car chase from White House to Capitol
- Black luxury car rammed a security barricade near the White House on Thursday
- Incident ended 16 blocks away on Capitol Hill with police killing the woman driver
- Police shot the driver after she got out of her vehicle and tried to flee
A chase that began with a black luxury car ramming a security barricade near the White House on Thursday ended 16 blocks away on Capitol Hill with police killing the woman driver, authorities said.
The Nissan Infiniti was registered to Miriam Carey, 34, of Stamford, Conn., according to a federal law enforcement official who was not authorized to comment publicly. Investigators believe she was the driver, and authorities were running fingerprint analysis to confirm her identity.
A child about a year old who was in car was taken to a local hospital and is in good condition, Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at an evening news briefing.
The incident caused a brief lockdown of the U.S. Capitol as Congress tried unsuccessfully to end the three-day government shutdown.
"This does not appear to be in any way an accident," Lanier said, noting that the woman twice tried to breach security barriers and struck a uniformed Secret Service officer near the White House.
U.S. Capitol Police chief Kim Dine said the incident "appears to be an isolated, singular matter, with, at this point, no nexus to terrorism."
The chaotic events began at 2:12 p.m. ET when the driver rammed a temporary barrier at 15th and E Streets NW, hitting the officer, said Secret Service chief Ed Donovan. Other Secret Service officers chased the woman east on Pennsylvania Avenue but did not shoot.
Lanier said Capitol Police officers pursued the speeding car eastbound and tried to stop it in Garfield Circle, just west of the Capitol lawn. A 23-year-veteran officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries when he crashed into a barrier.
Police had the woman's car surrounded but she escaped, ramming a Secret Service vehicle as she fled. Lanier said police then fired their first shots at the suspect.
The driver made her way onto Constitution Avenue before eventually stopping in the 100 blocks of Maryland Avenue NE, near the Hart Senate Office Building.
Police then killed the driver after she got out of her vehicle and tried to flee.
Two federal officials told USA TODAY that all shots were fired by law enforcement officers. One official said no gun was recovered from the Infiniti.
Terrance Gainer, the Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. Senate, said the woman's vehicle could not have reached the Capitol itself because "there are barricades up all the time."
As the chase unfolded, members of Congress and staff were told by Capitol police to "immediately shelter in place." Less than an hour later, a TV screen in the Senate press gallery flashed an "all clear" message.
Security was heightened at the White House as a precaution and President Obama was briefed on the incident, according to White House officials.
Larry Murr, a former Louisville resident living in Jacksonville, Fla., was visiting the Capitol building when he heard the gunfire, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported..
"We were standing there, looking at the building, and all of a sudden we heard a pop-pop-pop-pop," he said, saying he thought he heard four to five shots fired in rapid succession.
In a notice distributed by email, the U.S. Capitol Police advised everyone to "close, lock and stay away from external doors and windows."
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who was on the balcony off of the speaker's lobby when the gunshots erupted, tells reporters that they sounded like "fireworks."
Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.), who was also on the balcony, said he heard "five or six" gunshots.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!" Posey told POLITICO. "Then sirens went off, cops started going everywhere yelling 'get inside, get inside!'"
People standing outside the Supreme Court across the street from Congress were hurried into the court building by authorities.
Contributing: Susan Davis; Mark Vanderhoff, the (Louisville) Courier-Journal