Authorities Identify Man Who Drove into U.S. Capitol Barrier, Shot Himself

Capitol Shooting
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A violently chaotic scene unfolded early Sunday morning at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. 

A violently chaotic scene unfolded early Sunday morning at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. 

Police told the Associated Press 29-year-old Richard A. York III  rammed his car into a barrier on East Capitol Street. It went up in flames before he started firing shots into the air at about 4 a.m. It ended when the man fatally shot himself. 

No one else was hurt.

Authorities say they do not think the man was there to target any members of Congress, who are away on summer break.

Capitol police say the man is from Delaware. At this point, they say it's unclear why he did it and why he chose that location. Capitol police are looking into York’s background, while Washington D.C.’s Metropolitan Police handle his death investigation.

This comes more than a year after the deadly January 6th 2021 insurrection and as the federal investigation heats up over highly classified documents former President Donald Trump reportedly removed from the White House and took to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. 

Thousands of people who falsely believed the 2020 presidential election win was stolen away from Trump stormed the capitol, threatened lawmakers and said they’d intended to kill then Vice President Mike Pence for certifying the election results that had been verified several times.

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