WASHINGTON — Hundreds of protesters backing President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday as Congress gathered to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the November election.
Four people died, including a woman who was shot by Capitol Police, and lawmakers were sent into hiding to escape the violence.
It began with a "Save America" rally around noon. President Trump vowed to never concede and urged hundreds of supporters to march to the Capitol.
Meanwhile, Congress began the process of certifying Biden's electoral college victory as Vice President Mike Pence announced he had no power to reject the results.
Around 1:15 p.m., a crowd approached the Capitol. Dozens of Republican lawmakers continued their plan to object to the results of the election.
And then, just before 2 p.m., Capitol Police told congressional staff members to evacuate two buildings.
At 2:20 p.m., both the House and Senate went on recess and the Capitol went on lockown as protesters broke into the building, entered congressional chambers and offices and clashed with police.
By 3:30 p.m., there were reported that one woman had been shot in the chaos. She later died.
Biden addressed the county at 4:10 p.m. and called for "just simple decency." A half-hour later, President Trump released a video message urging protesters to go home. The message has since been restricted by Twitter "due to a risk of violence" and removed from Facebook.
At 5:40 p.m., police used tear gas and percussion grenades to clear the Capitol grounds, and an emergency curfew went into effect 20 minutes later throughout Washington, D.C. as the National Guard moved in.
Multiple Republican senators, including Indiana's Mike Braun, reversed course before 9 p.m. and said they would not object to congressional certification of President-elect Biden's victory.
The House and Senate resumed work around 9 p.m. Congress affirmed Biden's win before 4 a.m. Thursday.