Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier told reporters Thursday evening that shots were fired in two locations. Near the Capitol, police killed the woman driving the black Infiniti with a young child inside. She said the child, who is about a year old, is in good condition and in protective custody.
After making an initial identification of the suspect, ABC News has learned that police are trying to confirm that the suspect is a 34-year-old woman from Stamford, Connecticut, with a history of mental health issues.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine said the incident is believed to be an isolated act unrelated to terrorism. Tourists watched the shooting unfold on Constitution Avenue outside the Capitol as lawmakers inside debated how to end a government shutdown. Police quickly locked down the entire complex temporarily, and both houses of Congress went into recess.
California Senator Barbara Boxer was on Capitol Hill when the shooting started.
She said, "We looked at each other because we've never heard sounds like this just in rapid succession: boom, boom, boom, boom. About five or six. And then we knew something terrible had happened. We got the young people down who were working upstairs and said 'come down and stand with us' in the stairwell and we stayed away from the windows."
On Thursday afternoon, after the lockdown was lifted, the House of Representatives broke into applause in honor of the U.S. Capitol police. ABC News has learned the police are not getting paid during the shutdown.
