A US Capitol police officer was killed and a second injured on Friday after a vehicle rammed through security and crashed into a barrier at the Washington complex, forcing it into lockdown less than three months after a mob assault on the US Congress.
US Capitol Police shot and killed the driver after he jumped out of the car and lunged at them with a knife, Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman told reporters.
US President Joe Biden, who was with first lady Jill Biden at Camp David for the Easter holiday, offered his “heartfelt condolences” to the family of William Evans, the veteran policeman killed in the attack.
Photo: Reuters
“Jill and I were heartbroken to learn of the violent attack at a security checkpoint on the US Capitol grounds,” Biden said in a statement.
US media said officials had identified the attacker as Noah Green, a 25-year-old man from Indiana and an adherent of the black nationalist Nation of Islam movement.
Pittman said there was no immediate indication of his motivation or a police file on him.
Photo: AFP / Noah Green Facebook Page
Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said: “It does not appear to be terrorism-related, but obviously we will continue to investigate.”
Green had graduated from Christopher Newport University in Virginia, where he played football, with a degree in finance in 2019, the school said.
Some of his online posts last month suggested a level of despair and paranoia.
He said that he was unemployed and had health problems, and made references to biblical concepts of the end of times.
He wrote that he had faced “unimaginable tests” and was “in search of a spiritual journey.”
In one post he spoke of being tormented by the FBI and CIA, hospitalized and subjected to “mind control,” and called the government “the #1 enemy of Black people!”
He also said he was a follower of Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, who promotes black nationalist, anti-white and anti-Semitic thinking.
Facebook said that it had removed Green’s account from the social network, as well as Instagram, and that it would remove “any content that praises, supports, or represents the attack or the suspect.” Top officials expressed shock over the attack and sympathy for Evans, an 18-year veteran of the force.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered flags lowered to half-staff on the Capitol, calling Evans “a martyr for our democracy.”
“Members of Congress, staff and Capitol workers, and indeed all Americans, are united in appreciation for the courage of the US Capitol Police,” she said.
Biden also lowered White House flags.
“We know what a difficult time this has been for the Capitol, everyone who works there, and those who protect it,” he said.
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