A handful of witnesses spoke to reporters Thursday outside the Capitol after a car chase ended in gunfire and a crash, causing a lockdown of the House and Senate chambers for nearly an hour.
“They were going well over the speed limit and ran all the red lights,” said a man who identified himself as Travis Gilbert, who appeared to be in his mid-20s.
“I was scared,” he said.
Another man, Matthew Jacobs, a 26-year-old tourist from New Zealand, said he saw the car being chased by a police car and that one rammed the other.
“There were gunshots,” he said. “I was like, whoa.”
Police soon ushered them and other witnesses away to provide statements of what they saw.
The streets just outside the Capitol were blocked off and packed with armed police and police cars. Tensions began to ease soon after the lockdown had been cleared. Tourists were in good spirits, some of them taking photos of themselves at the scene.
[Photo credit: TPM / Sahil Kapur]
