by Itunuoluwa  Adebo

A woman described as “erratic and aggressive” drove a vehicle into a US Capitol police cruiser near the Capitol on Wednesday morning and was taken into custody according to police reports.

Capitol police spokeswoman Eva Malecki said the incident appeared to be criminal in nature with “no nexus to terrorism”. She also said shots were fired during the attempt and no one was injured but there was no mention of exactly how many shots were fired.

“We’re not going to into that right now,” she said

Malecki described that as police attempted to stop her, she made a U-turn and fled, nearly striking officers and striking at least one other vehicle, a brief pursuit then followed before the woman was stopped.

The incident occurred towards the end of morning rush hour close to the US botanical garden and prompted a large police response just as people were waiting to get into a nearby congressional office building.

Scott Ferson, president of Liberty Square Group, said he suddenly saw a dozen Capitol police cars moving quickly toward Botanic Garden and he heard what sounded like three gunshots.

Police called to everyone in the area to get off the street, and then things seemed to calm down.

Itunuoluwa