Four deaths, 52 arrests made after Trump supporters storm U.S. Capitol

Four people died and 52 were arrested, Washington D.C.’s police chief said, after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to stop Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.

In a late night news conference, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert J. Contee said 47 of the 52 arrests to date were related to violations of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 6 p.m. curfew, with 26 of those involving people arrested on U.S. Capitol grounds.

In addition, Contee said, two pipe bombs were recovered from the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees, as well as a cooler from a vehicle on U.S. Capitol grounds that contained Molotov cocktails.

D.C. police officials said that a woman was shot earlier Wednesday as thousands tried to break through a barricaded door in the Capitol where police were armed on the other side. She was hospitalized with a gunshot wound and later died while Contee declined to identify the woman a Capitol Police officer shot and killed, saying next of kin notification was still pending

 On the other hands, White House deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger has resigned, according to media reports, joining a number of officials who are leaving the administration of President Donald Trump in the wake of violence on Capitol Hill.

Two top aides to first lady Melania Trump also resigned on Wednesday and Stephanie Grisham resigned as chief of staff to the first lady.

The White House social secretary, Rickie Niceta, also resigned, as did a deputy White House press secretary Sarah Matthews.

Source: Agencies