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Local Lawmakers Tell of Capitol Hill Chaos

MOOSIC — As gunshots rang out and police swarmed the Capitol, lawmakers from Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania were caught in the lockdown. Democratic...

MOOSIC -- As gunshots rang out and police swarmed the Capitol, lawmakers from Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania were caught in the lockdown.

Democratic Senator Bob Casey from Scranton was walking from the Capitol to the Senate Office Building when he said he saw police speed past.

At first, he said he thought it was a motorcade, but then realized it was something very different.

"I heard kind of a popping noise, three or four pops that sounded like gunfire and so we started walking back towards the Capitol and that's when Capitol Police told us to get down, stay behind a car," he said in a phone interview Thursday.

Senator Casey said after several minutes, he was moved inside.

According to officials at the Capitol, police and Secret Service agents tried to stop a woman driving a vehicle.

Investigators said the woman refused orders to stop.

The chase ended when police shot and killed her.

Officials said a child in the woman`s vehicle was unharmed.

Representative Matt Cartwright from the 17th District was outside and heard the chaos.

"It seemed like about seven or eight shots in fast succession. It really didn't take more than a second," he said.

Congressman Lou Barletta from the 11th District was inside his office when the alert came to get down, warning people to stay away from doors and windows.

Barletta said during the lockdown he and his staff watched what was unfolding on the news.

The lockdown ended in what the congressman called a 'very sad' way.

"Obviously there was some mental health issue, the fact that she tried to drive through the barricades near the White House and ended up in a police chase up here on Capitol Hill, and the fact that there was a small child in the car, it`s very sad, very sad that something like this can happen," said Barletta.

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