by Mary Margaret Olohan
Washington, D.C. police announced Wednesday that four people died during riots following the Stop the Steal rally on Capitol Hill.
Rioters stormed the United States Capitol building Wednesday, committing acts of vandalism and postponing the certification process as members of Congress were forced to evacuate the building.
Between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, authorities have made at least 68 arrests, police announced Thursday. Five of these arrests were for illegal possession of firearms, and two people were arrested for other weapons, police said. Police also said they arrested 28 additional people for violating curfew.
One woman was fatally shot by law enforcement, Metropolitan Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said during a Wednesday press conference. She has been identified as air-force veteran and San Diego resident Ashli Babbit by multiple outlets.
The police chief said Wednesday there were three additional deaths.
“One adult female and two adult males appear to have suffered from separate medical emergencies, which resulted in their deaths,” he said.
Contee also said that police recovered pipe bombs both outside the Republican and the Democratic national committees and found a cooler in a vehicle on Capitol grounds that had a long gun and Molotov cocktails in it.
The Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Police recovered at least six firearms, Contee said, in addition to three firearms authorities recovered Tuesday night, and a stun gun.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said she is extending the city’s public emergency through president-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, saying that she expects those who stormed the capitol to continue protesting.
“Their motivation is ongoing,” she said. “Today, they sought to disrupt the Congressional proceedings relating to the acceptance of electoral college votes,” she said. “President Trump continues to fan rage and violence by contending that the Presidential election was invalid.”
– – –
Mary Margaret Olohan is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
