By JAY REEVES, LISA MASCARO and CALVIN WOODWARD | The Associated Press January 11, 2021 at 7:15 a.m. | UPDATED: January 11, 2021 at 8:06 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Under battle flags bearing Donald Trump’s name, the Capitol’s attackers pinned a bloodied police officer in a doorway, his twisted face and screams captured on video. They mortally wounded another officer with a blunt weapon and body-slammed a third over a railing into the crowd.
“Hang Mike Pence!” the insurrectionists chanted as they pressed inside, beating police with pipes. They demanded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s whereabouts, too. They hunted any and all lawmakers: “Where are they?” Outside, makeshift gallows stood, complete with sturdy wooden steps and the noose. Guns and pipe bombs had been stashed in the vicinity.
Only days later is the extent of the danger from one of the darkest episodes in American democracy coming into focus. The sinister nature of the assault has become evident, betraying the crowd as a force determined to occupy the inner sanctums of Congress and run down leaders — Trump’s vice president and the Democratic House speaker among them.
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The ensuing riot led members of Congress to flee in gas masks after police deployed tear gas as an armed standoff took place between U.S. Capitol Police and rioters at the doors of the House Chamber. Confederate flags were paraded through the halls of Congress as rioters donned in tactical military gear and carrying zip-tie handcuffs, likely intended to be used to kidnap lawmakers, entered the Senate chamber. They screamed for Mike Pence’s head after Trump denounced his own vice president in an audio message. Some wore sweatshirts bearing the message: “MAGA Civil War” and the date, “1.6.21.”
On the grounds outside, rioters erected a giant wooden cross and a gallows with a noose.
Reporters were beaten and threatened with death. Their cameras and equipment were smashed and burned.
Echoing Trump’s long-standing calls that the press were the enemy of the people, rioters scrawled “Murder the media,” on a Capitol doorway.
A rioter murdered a police officer with a fire extinguisher.
Another rioter was shot dead by a police officer while trying to break into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s chambers. In perhaps the most indelible image, rioters commandeered a scaffold and used it to take down an American flag and replace it with a Trump “Make America Great Again” flag.