Man dies by suicide near Capitol, police say

A man died by suicide after driving his car into a vehicle barricade near the Capitol, police said Sunday morning.

The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department identified him later Sunday as Richard Aaron York III, a 29-year-old man from Dagsboro, Del.

Just after 4:00 a.m., York collided with the barricade, and his car burst into flames after he exited the vehicle, Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger told reporters Sunday morning. York might have set the fire himself, Manger said.

York walked down East Capitol Street, took out a handgun and started firing it "indiscriminately," Manger said, but no one else was harmed by the shots.

As officers started approaching York, he shot himself dead, according to the police. No officers appeared to have fired their weapons, the department said.

It did not appear members of Congress were the target because both chambers are currently out of town on their August recess.

Law enforcement around the Capitol has been on high alert in light of recent threats made to other agencies, Manger said. The incident comes just days after police shot and killed a man suspected of attempting an attack on the FBI office in Cincinnati, though Manger said there wasn't yet any information on the motivation of the suspect in Sunday morning's incident and authorities were still searching through his social media feeds.

"We do know that the subject has a criminal history over the past 10 years or so," Manger said. "But nothing that at this point would link him to anything here at the Capitol."

One USCP officer, Billy Evans, died and another was seriously injured in April 2021 after a driver rammed a car into a barricade on Constitution Avenue outside the Capitol and then brandished a knife prompting officers to shoot the man, Noah Green. The House and Senate had also been on recess during that attack, which took place on Good Friday.