A man crashed into a fence near the US Congressional Building in Washington, fired several shots into the air and then committed suicide. This was reported on Sunday, August 14, by Capitol Police.

The incident took place after 4:00 am (11:00 am Moscow time) on the corner of East Capitol Street and Second Street in the city center.

At that moment, when the man got out of the car, it caught fire.

Unknown shot himself

The officers, upon hearing the sounds of gunshots, reacted immediately and tried to approach the man, but he shot himself. There were no casualties. There is a summer break at work for the US Congress, virtually no staff in the building.

The investigation was taken over by the District of Columbia Police Department. The attacker’s identity and motives are established.

Tensions Rising Amid FBI Operation Against Trump

The attack comes at a time when law enforcement agencies across the country face a growing number of threats and federal officials have warned of the possibility of violent attacks on government buildings, the AP said. Tensions rise as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided former President Donald Trump’s property in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

The attack is reminiscent of the April 2021 hit-and-run incident by a car with two Capitol police officers, the AP noted.

The US midterm elections are scheduled for November 8, 2022.

The longest sentence in the Capitol robbery case

Previously, on August 1, Texas resident Guy Reffitt was sentenced to the longest sentence – seven years and three months in prison – in the January 2021 Capitol robbery case. The verdict was handed down by D.C. Judge Dabney Friedrich.

The Texan was in a radical right-wing militarized group. In March, he was found guilty of carrying a firearm outside the Capitol, assaulting police officers and obstructing an investigation. Additionally, Reffitt threatened his son and daughter and demanded that they not contact law enforcement agencies.

US Congressional Investigation

Radical supporters of Donald Trump, who lost the US presidential election, after his speech at a rally in Washington on January 6, 2021 reached Capitol Hill, where participants in a joint Senate and House of Representatives meeting approved the results of the vote. Protesters managed to storm the building, congressional debates were suspended for several hours, lawmakers were evacuated.

Protesters clashed with police, who responded with tear gas. The National Guard arrived in Washington. Five people died in the clashes, including a police officer. Authorities took control of the Congress building a few hours later. Two more police officers committed suicide in the following weeks. After the riots, around 50 people were detained, several of whom were charged.

More than a thousand witnesses interviewed

Following the capture of Capitol Hill, a US House of Representatives committee examined more than 140,000 documents and interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses to shed light on Trump’s role in the events. During its first meeting in early June, the commission held the former president primarily responsible for the unrest in Washington. After the eighth public hearings, a pause in the work of the commission was announced, a new meeting will be held in September. Trump denies his guilt and does not rule out that he will run again for the presidency of the United States in 2024.