A man with a gun in the U.S. Capitol complex was apprehended Monday after shots were fired, which forced visiting tourists to flee the Capitol Hill Visitors Center.
Initial reports said the suspect wounded a Capitol police officer, but those reports were inaccurate.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa told reporters that the man entered the Capitol Visitors Center with a gun and pointed it at officers, who fired at him and hit him. The man was arrested and was undergoing surgery as of late Monday afternoon.
Verderosa said a woman sustained minor injuries during the event.
Verderosa said the man is known to Capitol police, but he declined to say who it was. Some reports said it was the same man who disrupted the House last October, but Verderosa declined to comment on his identity.
He also indicated there is no reason to think it was an act of terrorism. “There is no reason to believe this is anything more than a criminal act,” he said.
The situation forced police to lock down the complex due to a “potential security threat” just before 3 p.m. The lockdown also prompted the White House complex to be locked down for a short period of time.
At about 3:20 p.m., the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police indicated the event was over, and tweeted out that there was “no active threat.”
There has been an isolated incident at the US Capitol. There is no active threat to the public
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) March 28, 2016
House staff received an email at 3:23 p.m. saying the lockdown was continuing, and that the shooting suspect “is in custody.”
At 3:41 p.m., House staff were sent an email saying the “shelter in place” was lifted, and that the Capitol building would be open for official business only. “The U.S. Capitol Visitor Center will remain closed until further notice,” it said.
An earlier police email told staff to shelter in place.
“No one will be allowed to enter or exit any buildings,” the police emailed all Capitol buildings. “You may move about within the buildings and underground between buildings.”
The situation began in the Capitol Visitors Center, near the North Gift Shop.
“A huge group of police started running, yelling to go the opposite way,” a Hill staffer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Washington Examiner. “Then they started yelling to get down on the ground. We ducked by the elevator, then decided to run.”
They followed the red-coated CVC staff to a bunker. Eventually, CVC staff moved a group of about 80 people to another secure location.
One witness described to the Examiner how she quickly exited the Capitol Visitors Center after shots were fired. Jill Epstein, a lobbyist from California, said one of her colleagues left their wallet and phone at the security station and ran from the building.
“I didn’t have time to think. You hear shooter and you just run,” Epstein said.
Roads were closed down for a block on all sides of the Capitol complex.
Joel Gehrke and Kyle Feldscher contributed
