Four dead, 52 arrested after Trump supporters storm US Capitol
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they storm the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Jan 6, 2021. (Photo: AFP/Roberto Schmidt)
WASHINGTON: Four people died on the United States Capitol grounds on Wednesday (Jan 6) and 52 people have been arrested, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert J Contee said on Wednesday evening, after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in an unprecedented effort to stop Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden's election victory.
In a late-night news conference, Contee declined to identify the woman a Capitol Police officer shot and killed, saying next of kin notification was still pending.
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The woman was shot as the mob tried to break through a barricaded door in the Capitol where police were armed on the other side. She was hospitalised with a gunshot wound and later died.
Three other people died on Wednesday because of medical emergencies, Contee added.Â
"One adult female and two adult males appeared to have suffered from separate medical emergencies which resulted in their deaths," he said. "Any loss of life in the District is tragic and our thoughts are with anyone impacted by their loss."
Contee said that 47 of the 52 arrests so far were related to violations of District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser's 6pm curfew, with 26 of those involving people arrested on US Capitol grounds.
Several others were arrested on charges related to carrying unlicensed or prohibited firearms.
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In addition, Contee said, two pipe bombs were recovered from the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees, as well as a cooler from a vehicle on USÂ Capitol grounds that contained Molotov cocktails.
Police said both law enforcement and Trump supporters deployed chemical irritants during the hours-long occupation of the Capitol building before it was cleared by law enforcement on Wednesday evening.
