On Wednesday morning, a female driver trying to evade police officers near Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. wound up trying to drive into them, causing shots to be fired.
According to Eva Malecki, the communications director for the United States Capitol Police, the incident started at 9:22 a.m. when the woman was driving erratically on Independence Avenue. When the police attempted to stop her, the woman executed a U-turn near the Library of Congress and started driving the wrong way against traffic.
Capitol Police raised barriers to “trap” the vehicle inside the perimeter near the Botanic Garden and the Rayburn House Office Building. The woman temporarily stopped but she then “revved the engine,” trying to shoot forward. According to Malecki, it was not clear who had fired the shots; she only said, “During the attempt to arrest the suspect shots were fired.”
The woman reportedly fled on foot before she was taken into custody.
Malecki said the investigation is in “preliminary stages” but there appears to be “no nexus to terrorism.”