Law enforcement officials say Wednesday's incident at the foot of Capitol Hill in which police fired shots at the driver of a vehicle that hit a police car began as a traffic violation.
A car driven by 20-year-old Taleah Everett of Washington, D.C. was headed eastbound on Independence Avenue, in the direction of the U.S. Capitol, when the driver apparently became frustrated with the slow moving traffic and did an "erratic and aggressive" U-turn, officials said.
In the process, she struck a U.S. Capitol Police patrol car and kept going westbound away from the Capitol. When she wouldn't stop, U.S. Capitol police officers fired at the car. No one was wounded by gunfire or was otherwise hurt.
"During the attempt to arrest the suspect shots were fired. However no individuals were injured during the arrest," Eva Malecki, communications director for the Capitol Police told reporters during a press conference.
The Capitol complex remains open to the public.
Everett is being questioned by U.S. Capitol police and will likely face several charges, including assault on a federal officer.
Bonnie Everett, who said she was Everett's aunt, told NBC News the woman has bipolar disorder.
"It’s been going on for some years now and we are trying to figure out what happened her and why she did whatever she did," said the aunt, Bonnie Everett of Maryland.
While police officers do not normally fire at fleeing cars, security is especially tight around the Capitol and other federal buildings in Washington.
In October 2013, 34-year-old Miriam Carey was shot and killed by law enforcement after she hit a security barrier and a Secret Service officer outside the White House, leading police on a chase that ended near the Capitol. The dental hygienist who drove to D.C. from Connecticut had her one-year-old daughter in the car. The child was not hurt.
Her family later said she had been suffering from postpartum depression and psychosis. Police in Stamford, Connecticut said Carey had reported that she believed former President Barack Obama had her under surveillance.
