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The US Capitol Building is in lockdown. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP
STAFF and visitors at the Capitol Visitors Center were forced into lockdown following a shooting in the Washington DC complex.
Shots were fired around 3pm at the complex where tourist gathered to take tours on Easter Monday.
The gunman was arrested after drawing his weapon at a security checkpoint where he was shot at by an officer and captured, police said.
Tourists are directed by Capitol Police away from the Capitol. Picture: J. Scott Applewhite/APSource:AP
US news network CNN is reporting a female bystander was injured by shrapnel during the shooting, though authorities are yet to comment.
The entire Capitol complex, as well as the White House, was also was put on lockdown following the shooting.
The event unfolded with US Congress in recess, meaning few politicians were in the complex, though thousands of tourists and visitors crowded the area to visit monuments and attend the President’s annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House.
One man is in custody after the shooting and DC police have assured there is “no active threat to the publicâ€.
A US Secret Service agent stands guard at the White House in Washington, DC, following the shooting. Picture: Nicholas Kamm/AFPSource:AFP
A video taken from inside the Capitol building shows chaotic scenes as visitors rushed through the building being asked to take cover.
Visitor Sammy Sanchez, who shared the vision to Instagram, said the situation was “not goodâ€.
Witnesses have described being made to feel safe as police rushed them through capital buildings.
Cathryn Leff of Temicula, California, in town to lobby with the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, said she was going through security at the main entrance to the Capitol Visitors Center when police told people to leave immediately.
Outside, on the plaza just to the east of the Capitol, other officers told those there to “get down behind this wall,†she told AP.
“I heard what sounded like two shots off to my left.â€
After a while police told her and others to keep running.
“I felt like I was in a movie. It didn’t feel real at all,†she said.
The lockdown and shelter-in-place order has now been lifted.