Without access to open records, timing is unclear about particulars of incidents
Police mark shell casings on Independence Avenue near the U.S. Capitol after a woman nearly hit U.S. Capitol Police officers, which resulted in an officer firing shots on Wednesday morning, March 29, 2017. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
It was a jarring beginning to the workday when Capitol Police walkie talkies started blaring “shots fired” shortly before 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
A female who had been observed driving erratically led Capitol Police on a brief chase at the southwest end of the Capitol grounds, near the Botanic Garden. Shots were fired but no one was hurt in an incident the department itself is investigating. The suspect was arrested and taken into custody.
It is unclear when the public might know more about what happened. Being a part of the legislative branch, Capitol Police are not subject to the same open records laws that usually serve as a way of finding out what has happened in violent episodes involving subjects and police.
Gun violence is nothing new to Capitol Hill, whether it involves Puerto Rican separatists shooting up the House chamber on March 1, 1954, to a gunman slaying Capitol Police officers John Gibson and Jacob Chestnut on July 24, 1998 in the Capitol, to the Oct. 3, 2013 incident that resulted in injured police officers and the shooting death of Miriam Carey, who had led police on a car chase on the Capitol grounds.
Police responded on Monday, March 28, 2016, after reports of shots fired occurred in the Capitol Visitor Center. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call)
Matthew Verderosa, Chief of Police for the United States Capitol Police, addresses the media after a reports of a shooting in the Capitol Visitor Center on Monday, March 28, 2016. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call)
Oct. 3, 2013: A U.S. Capitol Police officer is taken to a Park Police helicopter after a shooting and subsequent police car crash on Constitution Avenue and 1st. Street, NW. The officer was injured in the car crash. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Oct. 3, 2013: A car chase that started at the White House and ended on Capitol Hill in front of the Hart Senate Office building with Capitol Hill police exchanging gun fire with the suspect. Here police work the scene in front of the Hart Senate Office building after a reported shooting on Thursday. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call)
Oct. 3, 2013: A car chase that started at the White House and ended on Capitol Hill in front of the Hart Senate Office building with Capitol Hill police exchanging gun fire. Here police evacuate a small child that was in one of the cars involved in the high speed chase into the Hart building to the medical facility. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call)
Police and firefighters in the background responded to the report of a shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 16, 2013. A gunman shot and wounded at least 12 people at the headquarters building at the US Navy Yard. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call)
An armored police vehicle sits on the East Plaza of the Capitol as U.S. Capitol Police conduct enhanced security operations around the Capitol Complex as a proactive measure related to the Navy Yard shooting incident in Washington on Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Sept. 17, 2010: U.S. Capitol Police congregate near 2nd and C Sts., SW, were members of the department fired on a man with the gun. The man survived and was taken to a local hospital. (Tom Williams/Roll Call via Getty Images)
July 29, 1998: Flowers, flags and notes in memory of U.S. Capitol Police Detective John Gibson and Officer Jacob J. Chestnut lay on the East Front steps of the U.S. Capitol. Gibson and Chestnut were slain Friday in a shooting at the Document Room entrance. (Scott J. Ferrell /CQ Roll Call)
July 29, 1998: Evelyn Gibson, right, wife of slain U.S. Capitol Police Detective John Gibson, holds daughter Kristen’s hand during a memorial service in the Rotunda for Gibson and Officer Jacob J. Chestnut, who were killed in a shooting at the Document Room entrance Friday. Sons Daniel and John are at left. (Scott J. Ferrell/CQ Roll Call)
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