A woman shot inside the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon has died, according to spokeswoman Alaina Gertz of the Washington, D.C., police department.
Videos of the incident circulating on social media show the woman fall to the ground following a loud bang inside the building. Onlookers screamed for help while she bled on the ground shortly after 3 p.m.
One witness, who identified himself as Thomas from New Jersey, said after storming into the chambers, police yelled for the mob of rioters to get back. He said the woman “didn’t heed the call” as they rushed to the chamber windows. “Then they shot her in the neck,” Thomas said.
Hospitals in the area declined to give details about anyone transported to their emergency rooms Wednesday evening.
– Brett Murphy
Behind them, a huge throng continued to swell, with a reporter estimating more than 1,000 pushing up against the inauguration stage set up outside the Capitol building. As protesters began climbing up the side of the building and on the balcony at the back, police appeared to retreat.
After the break-in, police attempted to secure one section outside the building but were quickly overwhelmed as the crowd broke through security fencing and breached the building. The Capitol was locked down and Pence was evacuated.
Terry Gainer, former chief of the U.S. Capitol Police who also served as the Senate’s sergeant-at arms, described Wednesday’s protests as unprecedented in four decades in law enforcement.
“It’s dangerous,” Gainer said. “This is a much more hateful crowd incited by the president himself. It’s definitely something new in our business.”
– Kevin Johnson and Will Carless, 2:20 p.m. ET
While holed up in their offices, legislators on both sides of the aisle condemned the rioters’ violent incursion into the Capitol.
“This is not a protest. It is a terrorist attack on our democracy,’’ Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, tweeted.
“There is nothing patriotic about what is occurring on Capitol Hill,’’ tweeted Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida. “This is 3rd world style anti-American anarchy.’’
Nevada Rep. Dina Titus, a Democrat, said via Twitter: “As I shelter in place, lawless domestic terrorists encouraged by the President of the United States are attempting to destroy our democracy. They will not succeed.”
By late afternoon, an almost festival atmosphere prevailed outside the Capitol: participants celebrated the storming of the building and traded stories about getting tear- gassed. Vendors sold popcorn and pretzels, and some departing participants rode off in bicycle rickshaws.
Several participants carried “Election fraud is treason” signs but declined to give their names or specify who they believed should be punished, but pointed out a nearby gallows. Closing in on 4 p.m., thousands of participants streamed away from the Capitol building, many laughing and jeering the politicians they had intimidated.
“Come back, turn around, stay strong, hold the line,” yelled a man waving a Trump flag from atop a cherry-picker. “We need you.”
– Trevor Hughes, 3:53 p.m. ET
At a late-morning rally, Trump once again repeated his repudiated claims of a rigged election, blaming the “fake news media,” “weak Republicans” and the tech giants. Trump also rejected early results from Tuesday’s election that saw Democrats leading in both Senate runoff elections in Georgia.
“This year they rigged the election, they rigged it like they never did before,” Trump said, citing unfounded examples.
Legal challenges, however, have been consistently rejected in several courts. Trump’s Homeland Security and Justice departments have said there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
But Trump again urged Vice President Mike Pence to reject the Electoral College count, which Pence has no legal right to do.
“We will never concede,” Trump said. “We will stop the steal.”
Later in the day, Trump assailed the vice president in a tweet, saying, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”
– John Bacon, 12:20 p.m. ET
More : Mike Pence faces biggest loyalty test in announcing Trump’s loss during a special session of Congress
Chad Heuer, 45, said he traveled from southern Michigan to watch Trump speak because he wants members of Congress to listen to what Trump supporters say.
“We have a constitution. Let’s uphold it,” Heuer said.
Michele Haynes from Las Vegas, unwilling to accept the reality that Joe Biden will become president, said she’s “sure there are other options” for Trump to remain in office regardless of what happens in Congress. She said Americans won’t accept Biden as president.
“They have more,” she said of allegations of voter fraud. “It’s going to be revealed.”
– Ryan Miller, 11:35 a.m. ET
At Black Lives Matter Plaza, just blocks from the White House, two counter-protesters camped out between police barricades playing “FDT” by rapper YG.
Sean Davis, 20, and Kayla Buie, 19, stood before a line of Black Lives Matter and rainbow flags, trading insults with passing groups of Trump supporters. Davis, a chef who has been unemployed since the beginning of the pandemic, said the couple drove from New York on Tuesday night to show their support.
“At first I wasn’t going to come, but then everything Trump was doing, it goes against our political system,” he said. “It’s more like tyranny.”
– N’dea Yancey-Bragg, 10:50 a.m. ET
Sherri Lynn Womack, a member of the Lee County board of education in North Carolina, said she traveled to Washington to demand better election security and stronger voter ID laws. She cited what she believes are “suspicious” videos of ballot counting in Georgia .
“I’m not one of those conspiracy theorists,” she said. “But these are legitimate questions that need to be asked.”
The Trump campaign is falsely claiming that surveillance camera footage captured election workers in Georgia adding thousands of illegal ballots that were brought into an Atlanta facility in suspicious “suitcases” on election night. State officials said the full video shows the suitcases were actually standard containers used to secure ballots.
Meanwhile, David Tate, 32, a truck driver from New Hampshire, said he drove 14 hours because he doesn’t want his three children to grow up under a Biden administration. He said he doesn’t believe Biden could have gotten the amount of votes he did because of the massive crowds Trump drew compared to the smaller events held by Biden.
“It’s kind of our right and our duty as American citizens to stand up against this naked treason,” he said. Biden, however, did not host large events at the behest of the public health experts who urged Americans to avoid large gatherings.
– N’dea Yancey-Bragg, 9:25 a.m. ET
Among those on the National Mall was Angela Strong, 41, a sixth-generation Texan who said she had ancestors on the Mayflower and others who fought in the Civil War.
“If they were willing to sacrifice everything to defend liberty and freedom, I could come down to support the cause for freedom,” Strong said. She said debate has been stifled in America, and people who disagree can’t have a conversation without arguing.
Strong said she couldn’t speak to Trump’s claims of voter fraud because Texas was not that close of a race, but added that concerns raised by people in other states such as Pennsylvania should be heard. Experts have agreed,however, that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Pennsylvania or elsewhere.
“If their citizens and legislators are questioning it in any contested state, it shouldn’t be ignored,” she said. “We have to give those voices the opportunity to say how they feel and why it is they feel that way.”
– Ryan W. Miller, 8:25 a.m. ET
Crowds of President Donald Trump’s supporters began gathering Tuesday in Washington, and D.C. police announced six protest-related arrests .
The Metropolitan Police Department detained three men and two women on charges ranging from carrying a pistol without a license to assault of a police officer, according to a spokesman. The U.S. Park Police also made one arrest, the spokesman said.
Hundreds of people had gathered during the day on Freedom Plaza near the White House, many waving Trump and American flags. Vendors ringing the plaza sold flag-themed hats and shirts emblazoned with sayings from “Stop the steal” to “Trump is my president.”
– Ryan W. Miller and Trevor Hughes, 12:05 a.m. ET
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