Shaila Dewan, Neil MacFarquhar and
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The Capitol Police were clearly outnumbered and unprepared for the onslaught. And many saw a stark double standard.
Americans looked on in shock Wednesday as a calm protest turned into an angry mob that swarmed past barriers and stormed the Capitol — spraying officers with chemical agents, breaking windows and doors and looting sizable objects — as the Capitol Police struggled to contain the violence and sometimes simply retreated.
The police force, which numbers about 2,000 officers and has sole jurisdiction over the Capitol’s buildings and grounds, was clearly outnumbered and unprepared for the onslaught, even as it was openly organized on social media sites like Gab and Parler.
It took more than two hours, and reinforcements from other law enforcement agencies, before order was restored. One woman who appeared to have wrapped herself in a flag was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer, according to Robert Contee, chief of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department, which was called in for backup. Another woman and two men died during the events because of as yet unspecified medical emergencies, he said.
At least 52 people were arrested, he said, including five on weapons charges and at least 26 on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. Most of the arrests were for violating the 6 p.m. curfew, he said, adding that the police would circulate pictures of those sought for breaching the Capitol building. In addition, pipe bombs were found at the headquarters of both the Republican and the Democratic National Committees and a cooler containing a long gun and Molotov cocktails was discovered on the Capitol grounds, the chief said.