 "Driver shot dead in car chase at U.S. Capitol")
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dramatic car chase through the streets of Washington from near the White House to the U.S. Capitol ended in gunfire on Thursday when law enforcement shot and killed the driver as lawmakers and aides huddled in a lockdown.
The identity of the driver - a woman - was not released. “The suspect in the vehicle was struck by gunfire and at this point has been pronounced (dead),” Washington’s police chief, Cathy Lanier, told reporters.
Driving a black sedan, the 34-year-old woman rammed security barricades “at the very outer perimeter of the White House,” U.S. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said. Then the car, carrying a 1-year-old girl, raced up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol where Congress was in session.
Police gave chase and fired at the car. It finally came to a halt at 2nd Street and Maryland Avenue, said Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine.
“My understanding is there was a 1-year-old child in the car,” Dine said. “I believe one of our officers rescued the child,” who was taken to a hospital.
The incident rattled Washington just three weeks after a government contractor opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the Capitol, killing 12 people and wounding three others before he was shot to death by police.
Two officers were hurt in Thursday’s incident. One was a Secret Service officer who was struck by the suspect’s car outside the White House, Donovan said.
The other was a Capitol Police officer whose car struck a barricade during the mid-afternoon chase. It ranged over about a mile and a half and lasted just a few minutes, officials said.
When the shooting erupted, lawmakers were trying to find a solution to a budget impasse that partially shut down the U.S. government this week. The Capitol was briefly locked down during the incident.
Representative Grace Meng said lawmakers were told to shelter in place on the floor of the House. Outside, some tourists were frightened.
“I was just eating a hot dog over here and I heard about four or five gunshots, and then a swarm of police cars came in wailing their sirens,” said Whit Dabney, 13, who was visiting Washington from Louisville, Kentucky, and heard the shots a couple of blocks away.
Witness Travis Gilbert said several police cars chased the black sedan at high speed toward the Capitol.
“They ran all the red lights. It was a very dangerous situation,” Gilbert said.
NO TERRORISM LINK
All the shooting appears to have been done by police; law enforcement sources said the suspect did not shoot a gun and there is no indication that she had one.
Dine said it appeared there was no connection to terrorism.
Just before the Capitol lockdown, Senator John McCain of Arizona was on the Senate floor urging that President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of senators launch negotiations to break the deadlock over government funding and a debt limit increase.
The House had just passed a bill to fund the National Guard and reservists who are not on active duty during the shutdown.
The Capitol police, who were deemed “essential” staff, were at work despite the government shutdown, but they are not being paid. (Reporting by Tim Reid, Thomas Ferraro, Mark Hosenball, Caren Bohan and Alina Selyukh; Writing by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Alistair Bell and Jim Loney)
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