A woman has died after being shot during a pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the D.C. police told the Washington Post.
The identity of the woman was not revealed, but officials told NBC News she was shot by a police officer inside the Capitol.
An eyewitness at the scene told D.C.-based TV station WUSA9 that the woman “rushed to the windows” and did not follow orders by police to “get back, get down, get out of the way.”
“She didn’t heed the call, and as we kind of raced up to grab people and pull them back, they shot her in the neck and she fell back on me,” the eyewitness, who identified himself as Thomas Morani, said. “She started kind of moving weird and blood was coming out of her neck and mouth and nose.”
According to CNN, “multiple” law enforcement officers were also injured during the Trump supporters’ occupation of the U.S. Capitol, with at least one taken to the hospital.
The pro-Trump riot at the Capitol began Wednesday amid the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes that would confirm the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. A handful of Republican members of Congress had attempted to challenge the normally pro-forma certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election.
With the ongoing chaos, Capitol Hill was placed on lockdown, with Vice President Mike Pence rushed from the Senate chamber by security, and members of the House and Senate instructed to evacuate the building.
Images and video from the scene showed Trump supporters roaming free throughout the House and Senate chambers, sometimes violently clashing with Capitol police.
Lawmakers throughout the afternoon called on Trump to de-escalate the situation, and while the president did ask his supporters to remain “peaceful” on Twitter, he stopped short of instructing them to leave the building. “No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue,” he wrote.
Pence, who drew the ire of Trump earlier in the day by objecting to the president’s attempt to overturn the election, went further in his own statement.
“The violence and destruction taking place at the US Capitol Must Stop and it Must Stop Now. Anyone involved must respect Law Enforcement officers and immediately leave the building,” Pence wrote. “Peaceful protest is the right of every American but this attack on our Capitol will not be tolerated and those involved will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
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