The shooting which led to the immediate lockdown of the U.S. Capitol for several hours did not have any perceptible connection to terrorism, but instead had been ruled as a suicide, according to the statement of Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine at a news conference.
Dine has told the reporters that on early Saturday afternoon, an unidentified male walking through the public area on the west front of the Capitol shot himself in broad daylight. There were dozens of onlookers who witnessed the shocking incident and there were some young children amongst them as well.
The unidentified shooter had been carrying a rolling suitcase and a backpack with him that the authorities considered as suspicious packages, thus hasting the lockdown while investigating it, said Capitol police.
The male had been in possession of a sign that had a message about “social justice” confirmed authorities. A witness, Robert Bishop said that the message said something concerning “taxing the 1%.”
According to Dine, there had been no connection to terrorism evident in this incident until now.
The building and the nearby Capitol Visitors Centre had been under lockdown, which meant that staffs or tourists could not be entering or leaving the buildings. This time of the year, the Capitol area is always crowded with tourists enjoying their time around the Cherry Blossom trees in full bloom alongside the National Mall.
Dine has confirmed that the member of the Capitol police who responded to the scene did not fire their weapons.
The lockdown had been lifted off around 3:50 p.m. ET after the suspicious packages have been examined and pedestrian traffic was back on track again.
Metropolitan Police Department, who is currently investigating the death, has responded to the incident along with FBI, Secret Service and Park Police.
There were several tourists at the scene that had been filming at the time of the incident and had showed their photos and videos to the law enforcement officials at the scene.
