Officer dies after car rams Capitol barricade

A U.S. Capitol Police officer was killed and another injured after a man drove a car into a security barricade at the Capitol complex on Friday, acting Chief Yogananda Pittman said.

The driver was shot after jumping out of the car with a knife and failing to respond to verbal commands and "lunging" at the officers, Pittman said. The suspect was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead a short time later.

Authorities said the attack, which came three months after January's deadly Capitol riots , did not appear to be terrorism-related.

"Whether the attack was at law enforcement, or whoever, we have a responsibility to get to the bottom of it and we'll do that," Robert Contee, the acting chief of Washington DC's Metropolitan Police Department, said at a news conference.

Yogananda Pittman said it was "with a very, very heavy heart that I announce one of our officers has succumbed to his injuries".

Police identified the slain officer as William “Billy” Evans, an 18-year veteran who was a member of the department's first responders unit.

There was also no immediate connection apparent between Friday's crash and the January 6 riot.

Law enforcement officials identified the slain suspect as 25-year-old Noah Green. Investigators were digging into his background and examining whether he had any mental health history as they tried to discern a motive. They were working to obtain warrants to access his online accounts.

Green described himself as a follower of the Nation of Islam and its founder, Louis Farrakhan, and spoke of going through a difficult time where he leaned on his faith, according to recent messages posted online that have since been taken down. The messages were captured by the group SITE, which tracks online activity.