Breaking: Shots Fired At U.S. Capitol, Lockdown In Progress, Wonkette Editrix On Scene

 
 4 shots were fired outside the U.S. Capitol at about 2: 15 today; Wonkette Editrix Rebecca Schoenkopf was about a block away when she heard "four sharp bursts of gunfire," followed by a "loud boom." Twitter messages indicate that the Capitol is in lockdown and that a suspect may be in custody; Rebecca says that she overheard a plainclothes capitol police officer telling a uniformed officer that "an officer is down" on 15th Street. (Update: Early reports that a police officer had been shot appear to be erroneous; see 3: 45 and 4:02 updates below) She has taken some video that she's in the process of uploading; we'll have it for you as soon as possible. [Update: Probably not anytime soon. Computers -n- smartphones are difficult]

Please keep in mind that as information comes in, we're likely to get a lot of contradictory reports; we'll try to label things as accurately as possible.

2: 50And we already have our first boneheaded tweet from a member of congress, the winner is Tim Griffin, from Arkansas district 2:

Stay classy, guys

3: 00 PMSeveral networks are reporting that a female suspect tried to ram the gates of (or a barricade at) the White House with a car. A chase ensued and the suspect is reported to be dead. Again, this is far from confirmed.

3: 05 PM  Chris Hayes tweets: "We're reporting that the Capitol is no longer in lock-down mode."

3: 07 PMSee also live updates at WJLA.com "ABC News is reporting a female suspect is dead following the shooting."

3: 10 PMYeah, we can identify with this:

3: 15 PMTwitter photo by user Christof Putzel ‏@christofputzel from scene showing a smashed police car:

3: 25 PM  Media Matters reports that, to the surprise of no one who's ever heard of him, Alex Jones has proclaimed the Capitol shooting a "false flag attack." Has anything ever just happened in this man's world?

3: 32 PMTweet by Jordan Sekulow (@Jordansekulow) shows vehicle that crashed at 2nd/Constitution. (We've cropped this from the original)

3: 38 PMRep. Tim Griffin is walking back his "not helpful" comments:

Also, a slightly earlier, longer comment from Griffin:

The victims and their families are in my thoughts and prayers. The shooting today is a terrible and inexcusable tragedy and an act of terrorism. No one but the shooter is to blame. We are still processing information about this shooting, but as I have been saying for days, we all need to choose our words wisely because violent rhetoric only coarsens our culture, creates an atmosphere of incivility and is not helpful. I tweeted out of emotion but agree that the timing was not helpful.

3: 45 PMfrom WJLA:

3: 06 PM:Police tell ABC7's Jennifer Donelan that the incident reportedly started when an unidentified woman tried to drive through a barricade at the White House. She had a baby in the back seat of her vehicle. The woman fled the area and ended up at the Capitol, where she tried to drive through another barricade.

Authorities opened fire on the vehicle, killing the woman, authorities say.

[...]

3: 25 PM:ABC News reports the child in the vehicle with the woman is unharmed.

3: 38 PM: MPD says no officer was shot during the incident.

4: 02 PMWe'll be shutting down the livebloog now with a couple of updates:  Salon is reporting that a police officer was injured in a car crash, not shot.

And finally, the required Pure Silliness from the incident:  Shirtless Bro Witness:  
 

4: 27 PMOne last link; video of the car driving away from the White House after trying to crash through barriers. From Dorsey Shaw at Buzzfeed.

4: 45 PMAnd of course, some things never change. From NYT's Doug Mills on Twitter:  

Hill Staffer checks his phone as Capitol Hill police take aim on the grounds of the Capitol.