A man drove his car into a barricade near the U.S. Capitol early Sunday and began firing gunshots air before fatally shooting himself. Police said he did not seem to be targeting any member of Congress. The incident happened just before 4 a.m. the Associated Press reports. The incident comes at a time when law enforcement authorities are facing an increasing number of threats and federal officials have warned about the potential of violent attacks on government buildings since the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The attack is reminiscent of man's driving a vehicle into two Capitol Police officers at a checkpoint in April 2021, killing an 18-year veteran of the force.
In the new incident, authorities said Richard York III, 29, of Delaware, crashed into the barricade and that as he was getting out of the car, the vehicle became engulfed in flames. The man fired several shots into the air as police approached. Capitol Police said the man shot himself as the officers neared. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said officers did not hear the man say anything before he opened fire “indiscriminately” in the street with a handgun and walked toward the Capitol. Authorities are investigating whether the man may have set his car on fire, the chief said, because the collision did not appear to cause the blaze. The chief said investigators located addresses for the man in Delaware and Pennsylvania and learned he had a criminal history in the past decade, though his motive remained unclear and he had no links to the Capitol.,