WASHINGTON (AP) – Lawmakers swear an investigation into how law enforcement handled Wednesday’s violent violation at the Capitol, questioning whether a lack of preparedness allowed a crowd to occupy and destroy the building.
US Capitol Police, charged with protecting Congress, turned to other law enforcement officials for help with the crowd overwhelming the complex and hiding lawmakers. Law enforcement officials and Trump supporters alike used chemical irritants during the hours-long occupation of the complex before it was cleaned up on Wednesday night.
Four people died, one of them a woman who was shot in the Capitol. Three other people died after experiencing “medical emergencies” in connection with the breach, said Robert Contee, chief of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department.
Police said 52 people were arrested Wednesday night, including 26 on the Capitol grounds. Fourteen police officers were injured, Contee said.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Chairman of the House Administration Committee, said the breach “raises serious security concerns,” adding that her committee will work with House and Senate leaders to review the response from the police and the United States. readiness to review it.
Lawmakers crouched under desks and put on gas masks, while police tried in vain to barricade the building as people marched to the Capitol from a White House rally in support of President Donald Trump. Washington’s mayor imposed a curfew in an attempt to contain the violence.
Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., A former police chief, said it was “painfully obvious” that the Capitol police were “unprepared for today. I certainly thought we would have had a stronger display of power that there was in the very beginning. steps would have been taken to ensure that there was a designated area for the protesters at a safe distance from the Capitol. ″
In an interview with MSNBC Wednesday night, Demings said the police appeared to be woefully understaffed, adding that “it didn’t seem like they had a clear operational plan to actually deal with” thousands of protesters who came to the Capitol after Trump’s complaints about a “fake election.”
The rioters were spurred on by Trump, who for weeks attacked the integrity of the election and urged his supporters to come to Washington to protest the formal congressional approval of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. The protests interrupted that procedure for nearly seven hours.
The crowd broke windows, entered the chambers of the Senate and House, and went to the offices of lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Demings said there were “a lot of unanswered questions and I am determined to get answers to those questions about what went wrong today.”
A police spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday.
Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., Said she was outraged when she saw on social media accounts of a Capitol police officer posing for a photo with a protester. “Would you take a selfie with someone who robbed a bank?” she asked. “I can’t imagine if a few thousand (Black Lives Matters) protesters had descended on the Capitol … that 13 people would be arrested.”
Representative Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, suggested leadership changes could be taking place at the Capitol Police Department.
“I think it’s pretty clear that very, very soon there will be some people out of work, because this is disgraceful both on behalf of the mafia and the president and the uprising and the coup attempt, but also the lack of professional planning and handling what we knew was going to happen, ”said Ryan.
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Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.