Car chase ends in gunfire near U.S. Capitol

Driver shot dead in car chase near Capitol Fri, Oct 04 00:04 AM EDT 1 of 30 By Richard Cowan and Margaret Chadbourn 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 officers shot and killed the driver as lawmakers and aides huddled in a lockdown. The incident rattled Washington less than three weeks after a government contractor opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard, about 1.5 miles from the Capitol, killing 12 people and wounding three others before he was shot to death by police. The car involved in the chase was registered to Miriam Carey, 34, of Connecticut, and law enforcement officials believe she was the driver, the Washington Post reported, citing officials. NBC News also identified the driver as Carey. Reached by phone at Washington's Metropolitan Police headquarters, a police officer confirmed that Carey was the driver, but declined to provide his name. "The suspect in the vehicle was struck by gunfire," Washington's police chief, Cathy Lanier, told reporters. Driving a black car, the 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 chased and fired at the car. It came to a halt near the Capitol building, 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. It appeared there was no connection to terrorism, Dine said of the incident. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, told CNN that officials believed the woman driving the car may have had mental health problems. "I got that from multiple sources - that they think she may have had some mental health issues," he said. "Obviously the way she responded at the gate near the White House and then turning around and hitting Secret Service." The woman was a resident of Connecticut and the girl in the car was her daughter, McCaul said. Hours after the woman's fatal encounter with officers, the FBI and other agencies were conducting a search of the sprawling condo complex in Stamford, Connecticut, where neighbors say she lived. Dozens of neighbors were forced to wait outside. They drank coffee and some talked on cell phones trying to arrange to stay with friends and relatives. "When we got home late this afternoon, there were three helicopters flying above, there were Haz-Mat (hazardous materials) trucks and bomb-squad trucks coming in, and police were telling people to get out of their condos," said Krysta Valentine, 29, a resident of the area who said she had seen Carey at times. When the shooting erupted outside the Capitol building, lawmakers were trying to find a solution to a budget impasse that partially shut down the U.S. government this week. The Capitol was locked down for about an hour during the incident. 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 car at high speed toward the Capitol. "They ran all the red lights. It was a very dangerous situation," Gilbert said. HIT BY CAR 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. 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 she had one. 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. "What really comes home to me is that these are all people who are working without pay right now," Representative Matt Cartwright, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said on CNN. He was outside on a Capitol balcony when he said he heard seven or eight shots "all in less than a second." Obama was briefed on the incident, a White House official said, providing no further details. Security is tight near the Capitol, but there have been previous shootings in the area. In 1998, a gunman burst through a security checkpoint at the Capitol and killed two Capitol Police officers in an exchange of fire that sent tourists and other bystanders diving for cover. The suspect, Russell Eugene Weston Jr., was not charged with a crime because of apparent mental instability. (Reporting by Richard Weizel, Tim Reid, Thomas Ferraro, Mark Hosenball, Caren Bohan, Alina Selyukh, Brendan O'Brien and Alex Dobuzinskis,; Writing by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Alistair Bell, Jim Loney and Peter Cooney) ================== Car chase ends in gunfire near U.S. Capitol Thu, Oct 03 17:51 PM EDT 1 of 24 By Richard Cowan and Margaret Chadbourn 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 the driver was shot as lawmakers and aides huddled in a lockdown. The identity and condition of the driver - a woman - was not released. One U.S. official said she had been killed, but later a police official said he did not know her condition. Driving a black sedan, the suspect rammed security barricades near the White House. Then the car, apparently carrying a child, 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 Constitution Avenue. The incident rattled Washington just three weeks after a government contractor opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard, about 1.5 miles from the Capitol, killing 12 people and wounding three others before he was shot to death by police. A police officer was also hurt in a car crash during Thursday's chase that ranged over about a mile and a half and lasted just a few minutes, officials said. When the Thursday's shooting erupted, lawmakers in Congress 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. The House of Representatives was in session, and Representative Grace Meng said lawmakers were told to shelter in place on the floor of the chamber. 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. 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. A U.S. official said there was no apparent connection to terrorism. The injured policeman was taken from the shooting scene in a Medevac helicopter, police said. "He appears to be conscious and breathing but we're following up," Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine said. "As far as we know, no officer has been shot." CHILD IN CAR Dine also said he believed there was a child in the car with the suspect. 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. "What really comes home to me is that these are all people who are working without pay right now," Representative Matt Cartwright, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said on CNN. He was outside on a Capitol balcony when he said he heard seven or eight shots "all in less than a second." Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi told MSNBC he heard sirens and saw police motorcycles go by and then heard four to six shots fired. "I was walking in the direction of the gunshots, so I stopped and I noticed Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont was headed my way. We both took cover behind an SUV," Wicker said. "And then police officers came and told us to get down." The lockdown order at the Capitol was called off after about an hour. President Barack Obama was briefed on the incident, a White House official said, providing no further details. Security is tight near the Capitol, but there have been previous shootings in the area. In 1998, a gunman burst through a security checkpoint at the Capitol and killed two Capitol Police officers in an exchange of fire that sent tourists and other bystanders diving for cover. The suspect, Russell Eugene Weston Jr., was not charged with a crime because of apparent mental instability. (Reporting by Richard Cowan, Tim Reid, Thomas Ferraro, Mark Hosenball and Caren Bohan; Writing by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Alistair Bell and Jim Loney) =============== Woman's "Dream Wedding" Pinterest Board Comes to Life ..By Charlotte Rudge, Shine Staff .Posts .By Charlotte Rudge, Shine Staff | Love + Sex – 21 hours ago ....Email 0Share 1267Tweet0Print..... Ryan Leak had never even told his girlfriend of five years, Amanda Roman, that he loved her when he first started planning their surprise wedding almost two years ago. “I wanted to wait until I knew with every fiber of my being,” says the 27-year-old from Dallas. "I wanted it to be special." Mission accomplished. More on Shine: Be the DIY Bride Pippa Wants to Be (Someday) Within the space of minutes on June 7, 2013, he told the bewildered, beaming Roman, 25, that: a) he totally loved her, b) wanted to marry her, and c) surprise! the wedding he’d planned off of her My Dream Wedding Pinterest board was happening that day, and over 100 of their nearest and dearest had flown to Miami to celebrate with them. Leak had overheard Roman tell a friend that she thought it would be romantic to get engaged and married on the same day. It was not easy. “I almost pulled the plug, like, 20 times,” Leak admitted to Yahoo Shine in his first interview since news of the wedding went viral. It took over a year and a half of careful covert planning, complete with clandestine calls from his heavily password-protected cell phone and masterful string pulling. “Honestly, if Amanda had ever asked if I was seeing someone else it would have made perfect sense, because I was acting so suspicious for so long,” says Leak. “The hardest part by far was getting a hundred people to keep the secret for a year. I basically threatened them at the same time I was telling them about it.” Equally challenging, if not more so, was not being able to discuss with Roman the typical annoyances of planning a wedding. “She’s my best friend, and on really tough days I couldn’t talk to her about it,” he says. More on Yahoo: Man Surprises Girlfriend with Online Wedding Proposal with Help From 'The Knot' Ingeniously, Leak looked to Pinterest for insight into his unwitting bride’s every wish. Right there was the blueprint for everything he needed: from the ideal seating arrangements for the ceremony to the dainty crystal teardrop earrings Roman wanted to wear. He purchased them in advance and presented them to her after she accepted his proposal. “Amanda had already planned her dream wedding without even knowing it,” says Leak. A bit of creative cajoling on his part a year ago prompted Amanda to go ahead and purchase her wedding gown (so that’s why it fit so beautifully!). A friend of hers covertly nabbed it from her closet and brought it down to Miami for the big day. Of course, as is bound to happen when planning a wedding both in secret and in a different city, plenty of stumbling blocks arose in the final 24 hours. Namely that Roman’s flight to Miami from Dallas was — get this — canceled. Leak had already flown into Miami under the guise of work in order to take care of the inevitable last-minute crunch of details. He admits he flipped out when he learned of the delay but pulled hard on every string he had to get his girl to the arrival gate. Which she did, landing at 12:21 a.m. It was the five-year anniversary of their first date, and, unbeknownst to her, their wedding day. Other snafus included nosy housekeepers at Roman’s airport hotel who blew the proposal by loudly asking Leak (who had a cameraman following him and Roman around) if he was famous. (Leak nervously blurted out that he was proposing to Roman, only to be commanded by the women to do it then and there in front of them.) Also in the mix, a surprise tropical storm, which nixed both Leak’s “plan B" proposal in a helicopter, and then shifted the ceremony from outdoors to indoors, and then again forced the reception to change locales at the last-minute due to flooding. But in the end the emotional ceremony went off without a hitch — in lieu of presents, guests were asked to make a donation to theA21campaign.org — and the couple left a day later for their honeymoon (yes, Leak had already planned that as well.) Next stop — Internet superstardom. We couldn’t image a better ending. Related: Breast Cancer Survivor Receives Adorable On-Camera Marriage Proposal Twitter Marriage Proposal Goes Viral, Appropriately