Capitol Police officer, suspect dead after driving into barrier: What we know
lockdown of the Capitol complex while both chambers were out of session and most lawmakers in their home districts, and came nearly three months after the Capitol Building was under attack by a mob of mostly Donald Trump supporters in the deadly Jan. 6 riot.
The loss of officer William Evans on Friday is a blow to a force that has already faced the death of another officer due to the Jan. 6 attack, Brian Sicknick, and two others who died by suicide afterward.
“It is with profound sadness that I share the news of the passing of Officer William ‘Billy’ Evans this afternoon from injuries he sustained following an attack at the North Barricade by a lone assailant,” acting U.S Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said in a statement.
Here’s what we know about the incident:
Chain of events at the Capitol
At 1:02 p.m. ET on Friday, the driver rammed his blue sedan into two Capitol Hill police officers and continued to hit the barrier on Constitution Avenue.
The suspect then exited the car and “started to lunge aggressively toward U.S. Capitol Police officers while brandishing a knife. At least one of the officers fired at the suspect after he ignored verbal commands from the officers.
Officer William Evans, killed in Friday’s attack at Capitol, described as ‘wonderful guy’
David Popp, a spokesman for Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, said Evans’ death was personal for him.
Noah Green went from jock to posting about paranoia, extremist groups
Green was born in West Virginia but spent most of his life growing up in a sparsely populated area of Virginia with a large family, including nine siblings, USA TODAY learned through multiple interviews. He was athletic, playing basketball and football growing up.
He graduated from Christopher Newport University in 2019, where he played football as a defensive back, a spokesman for the school in Newport News, Virginia, told USA TODAY.
One of Green’s brothers told The Washington Post that Noah Green appeared to have mentally unraveled in the last several years. He abruptly moved from Virginia to Indianapolis and told his brother, Brendan, he was suffering from hallucinations, heart palpitations, headaches and suicidal thoughts.
A few months ago, Noah Green moved to Botswana, his brother told the Post. The brothers kept in contact and at one point, Noah told Brendan that “his mind was telling him to basically commit suicide” and said he’d jumped in front of a car, Brendan told The Post. Several weeks ago, Brendan allowed Noah to come live with him after Noah said he was “in a really bad situation.”
D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said there is no reason to believe he is linked to the Jan. 6 attack, nor that terrorism is involved. Authorities have treated the incident as a “lone-wolf” event, and said Green was not on their radar prior to Friday.
Friday’s attack is the latest violence at the US Capitol, the site of shootings, bombings and riots over the last 50 years
Ryan, who chairs the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees Capitol Police funding, told reporters Friday after the incident that there would be a review process to determine what appropriate safety measures should be taken going forward.
Contributing: Savannah Behrmann, Ledyard King, William Cummings, Christal Hayes and Kevin Johnson