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Man who shot self at Capitol identified

By The Associated Press April 14, 2015 1:27 am

The man died after shooting himself on the west front of the Capitol building, which triggered a roughly two-hour lockdown, Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider said.

Members of law enforcement and emergency services gather and a parameter created around the west front of the U.S. Capitol as the U.S. Capitol is on lockdown, Saturday, April 11, 2015, in Washington. Police say the U.S. Capitol is on lockdown as a precaution after shots were fired in what appears to be an attempted suicide. Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider says the suspected shooter was “neutralized” after sustaining a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It’s unclear whether the man is dead. No one else is believed to be hurt. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

UPDATE 1:27 a.m. April 14, 2015: The Metropolitan Police Department has identified the man who killed himself on the Capitol grounds as Leo Thornton, 22, of Lincolnwood, Illinois.

Previous: 6:15 p.m. April 11, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — A precautionary lockdown of the U.S. Capitol was lifted after about two hours Saturday following a suicide by a man carrying a protest sign.

The man died after shooting himself on the west front of the Capitol building just after 1 p.m., Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider said. No one else was hurt.

Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine said the man had a backpack and a rolling suitcase, triggering an hours-long lockdown, and a sign that said something about “social justice.”

Robert Bishop of Annapolis, Maryland said he was biking near the steps of the Capitol when the suicide happened.

Bishop didn’t witness the suicide but said there were about 60 people in the area, and that some of them did, including a girl and her mother who immediately began crying afterward.

Bishop said another witness told him and a police officer that the man who killed himself held up a protest sign about taxation just before pulling the trigger.

No one was allowed to leave or enter the Capitol or the visitors’ center during the lockdown on a busy day for tourists, and some streets around the area were closed.

After being allowed to leave the Capitol, Bishop said he saw authorities taking clothes out of the suitcase the man had.

During the lockdown, about a dozen police cars, black SUVs and an ambulance congregated at the bottom of the west steps of the Capitol, which overlooks the bustling National Mall.

Police appeared to take measurements as bomb squad members searched the area. Nearer the mall, visitors gathered around trying to figure out what was going on.

The lockdown came during Washington’s annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which attracts thousands of tourists during Washington’s busy season.

Congress has been on spring recess for two weeks and lawmakers are set to return to work Monday.

___

Associated Press photo editor Wayne Partlow and writers Amanda Lee Myers and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

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Home » Latest News » US Politics News » Man who shot self…

R A.

Glad this guy only took himself out, and nobody else.
- SharpStick
  
  There you are! Thought you might have been the guy at the Capitol.
  - 370HSSV
    
    RA is not against the 1%
    - Feral Thug
      
      Only the dumpster diving 1% on the loser end of the spectrum is…
    - SharpStick
      
      Thought he might have been with the 99%
      - J Smith
        
        guy who committed suicide was complaining about the 1% according witnesses
      - J Smith
        
        Hey dopey! What’s news?
      - R A.
        
        Here’s some news: Byte my aZ$ weirdo.
        Juss ‘sain
      - SharpStick
        
        My mistake (again) guy was a leftist like over 90% of US gun violence
      - J Smith
        
        lol “sharp stick” had to fake my name.
        The guy who shot himself twitter feed shows him to be LEFT WING
      - FARVA!
        
        Nah, this guy wanted to 0ccupy a bullet instead of 0ccupying a job.
    - J Smith
      
      Yes, he is.
SharpStick

“Bishop said another witness told him and a police officer that the man who committed suicide held up a protest sign about taxation just before pulling the trigger.”

Has anyone heard from R A. today?
- J Smith
  
  Details are early but the description sounds like an Occupy/Oblamer fan
  
  sign was whining about the 1%
  
  and last year a woman who worked at the Capitol, a Dem staffer there, killed herself with a drug overdose in a bathroom at Longworth. No news coverage.
  
  By the way you sound suspiciously like a guy we had here who claimed Maryland, with al its gun control had a lower murder rate than Virginia (when the opposite is true, and in fact Maryland has a 50% higher murder rate).
  
  Embarrassed yourself with so many objectively false statements you had to create a new disqus ID?
  - RJ
    
    Way to go!!! Calling out those libtards! If we have more people like you, one day soon, liburls and obamatards will pick up and leave the internet and vote Cruz 2016! The end is near!!! Keep up the good work, never go outside till done.
    - J Smith
      
      Oh, okay then, I apologize. I have the misfortune of being terminally stupid so when I open my mouth I sometimes embarrass myself. Thanks for understanding
  - Richard Head
    
    Wrong.
    - Guest
      
      Oh, okay then, I apologize. I have the misfortune of being terminally stupid so when I open my mouth I sometimes embarrass myself. Thanks for understanding.
      - J Smith
        
        sharpstick has to fake being other people.
        he said the guy was right wing and as it turns out the guy with the gun was LEFT wing
    - J Smith
      
      sorry, but as the news is now making clear he was an leftie
  - J Smith
    
    Oh, okay then, I apologize. I have the misfortune of being terminally stupid so when I open my mouth I sometimes embarrass myself. Thanks for understanding.
  - J Smith
    
    Hey loser!
    - J Smith
      
      poor poster “sharp stick” had to fake my name.
      Cool. the news is out this guy who shot himself was a LEFTIE. his twitter feed is full of the same blathering sharpstick parrots.
      Another parasite like sharpstick is gone, how sad
COVCOM

I wonder what they did to neutralize him?? Did they shoot him again?
- Griefman
  
  911 operator asked the police to make sure he was dead, so they did.
RonaldG

If taxation could make us crack, all of us Marylanders would’ve been jumping off the Bay Bridge years ago.
- Cecily
  
  You are the only one who admits Maryland has high taxes. I lived in MD for a few years and as soon as I moved back to VA I saw at least $100 more dollars in my paycheck as well as much lower car insurance rates. Now, I was only renting at the time so not sure about real estate taxes but the state taxes they took out of my paycheck every month were high. Every time I mention this to co-workers who live in MD they act like they don’t know what I am talking about but I have live both places and that was my experience. Of ocurse PWC is not busy trying to tax me to death for my small humble home I own.
  - Griefman
    
    Don’t you pay taxes on your possessions, like a car, motorcycle, boat etc?
    - Cecily
      
      Yes, we have to pay taxes on our car in VA. I think they had originally been pretending they were going to eliminate them altogether but have since decided to stop pretending. My car is old so I pay less than $200 a year, but I was mainly referring to income tax and car insurance. Like I said, I am referring to a decade ago when I only owned a car, the same one I own now and no house or any kids or anything else.
      - Mastersgt
        
        Same with me. When I moved from MD to VA, my car insurance dropped and I saw more money in my paycheck. I save $40 per month on my car insurance, and about $100 per paycheck in taxes. I may pay around $200 per year on car tax, but that’s nothing compared to what I’m saving year round by no longer paying MD’s high taxes.
  - HubertCumberdale99
    
    You are correct. I also lived in MD and found that the simple act of relocating to VA caused my standard of living to increase slightly. Less tax in almost all respects. Quality of life is better in VA, prices are lower in VA, taxes are lower in VA.
    
    The only good thing I can say about MD is that they have a nice state flag… That’s it.
Feral Thug

Any good YouTube video?
- 370HSSV
  
  That one will show up on other sites… to gruesome for YouTube
Badeye

So I guess this wasn’t a part of the tour.
Badeye

I didn’t know police cars, SUVs and ambulances could congregate. Who knew?
tncem

“Precautionary” lockdown? Why? In case a mass suicide breaks out? And what’s with the bomb squad? These idiots send out the bomb squad every time someone farts. Makes me wonder if they would know what to do with one of they ever found one.
Wilson

Just another unhinged liberal.
VAJake321

It’s pretty bad when taxes drive you to kill yourself.
- Eldorado48
  
  Adds a new slant on “nothing for sure except Death and Taxes”
Bill Hussein O’Stalin

He got social justice.
J Smith

Virginia has a much higher violent crime rate than Maryland.
- FARVA!
  
  Wrong
  
  MD ranks no.9 on the FBI’s top 10 states for violent crime. VA isn’t even close.
  
  Crimes per 100,000 residents (as of 2008)
  MD: 628.2
  VA: 258.1
  
  Yea, facts can be pesky little things especially when you want to cheer for the lesser of two states….Have fun in Marieland.
  - J Smith
    
    I lives in Virginnie. But I’m thinking of moving to Marieland.
    - FARVA!
      
      Good, we won’t miss you.
    - R A.
      
      yer…. a di ck brain.
      - rglass
        
        can you children grow up really what do you get accomplished?
      - SharpStick
        
        Ok, I claimed us gun murder is up and it is down. I claimed Virginia has more murder and Maryland does. I claimed Virginia had more rape when Maryland in fact does.
        I got all that from a gun control group website and it turned out to be wrong. Sorry to all.
  - J Smith
    
    Hmmm…why then is Maryland the richest state in the U.S., surpassing Virginnie by a lot?
    - R A.
      
      yer….a di ck head.
  - J Smith
    
    and the kids have far superior educational skills. The murder rate in Maryland is driven by a couple of areas…PG and Balmer. Even the FBI warns against using the data the way you’re using it hillbilly.
    - FARVA!
      
      No facts stating your bs theory, yet I I posted relevant factoids showing otherwise (and 370HSSV even posted more recent data still backing that up). How does it feel being proven full of sh!t?
    - R A.
      
      yer……a dique head.
    - J Smith
      
      I made a mistake. I had read on the “everytown for gun safety site” that Virginia had higher murder.
  - 370HSSV
    
    At least use the recent data!
    9th most dangerous state: Maryland
    > Violent crimes per 100,000: 476.8
    
    VA wasn’t in the top ten, I didn’t look it up
Scooby

I wonder how this is going to affect our tax returns next year.
Westofthebridge

It’s a shame he did this in front of children. What a selfish bahsturd.
spoony g

This man did not shoot himself. He was shot by the capitol police. Attorney General Eric Holder has already acknowledged this to CNN and MSNBC.
Badeye

So he was littering too.
Badeye

“Taxation Without Represen…”
- J Smith
  
  no, he was whining about the 1%
  Hus twitter feed is all about his love for Obama. leftie
  - Badeye
    
    Rightie
    - J Smith
      
      compete leftie and Occupy wall street admirer
Fox Mulder

There is definitely something wrong with the youth of this time.
- HubertCumberdale99
  
  Said every generation EVER.
Feral Thug

One less person to have to give free stuff to…
Dave D

People are dying over taxes too. Our system needs to just stop approving spending on all this folly that other people disagree with.
Griefman

A friend of the Clintons???????
Mike W.

Could they be more vague about the sign? No one can provide the content ? Weird.
The avoidence of discussing it makes me think they don’t want us to know because:
A) It might point to a particular ideology held by this ill man
or
B) (longshot) It’s too subversive for us?
Earl Rowe

Good reporting everything wrong.—— A poor soul fed up with life brought his sign and things with him to capitol hill and calmly sat down and shot him self. One shot. The end.—- The reports Shots fired at the capitol———Lock down—— Shooter neutralized——.
The poor man died with one shot. We will never know what torment drove him to this PC ?
WarPossum101

“The suspected shooter was neutralized after sustaining a self-inflicted gunshot wound.” I bet he was…

Actually, I think he neutralized himself. What he was after that was neutral – i.e., dead.

Don’t you just love official jargon? Who teaches these people to talk like this?