WASHINGTON - Early Wednesday evening, the normal daily rush hour was disrupted by a fatal police shooting just blocks from the Capitol Building.

According to Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a police spokeswoman, it was around 5:15 p.m. when U.S. Capitol Police fatally shot a man at New Jersey Avenue NW and C Street NW.

She said U.S. Capitol Police officers tried to stop a white Mercedes with temporary tags in the 100 block of Massachusetts Avenue NE at 5:15, but the driver fled into Columbus Circle, the curved road near Union Station.

There, the suspect's car struck a U.S. Capitol officer who was on foot. A motorcycle officer was also hit as the suspect fled. Both officers suffered minor, non-life threatening injuries.

The vehicle kept fleeing, traveling the wrong way down Louisiana Avenue. It finally stopped at New Jersey Avenue and C Street NW after hitting a jersey wall and a police cruiser.

Schneider said the driver exited the vehicle and produced a weapon; officers ordered the man to drop it, but he did not comply.

The officers opened fire, fatally wounding the man.

"Pop,pop,pop,pop -- four or five shots and that was it," said Dale Lanaghan, a witness.

"I got off the bus [and] by the time I got right here, the car zoomed past us," said Victoria Hall, a witness.

D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Pete Piringer said the wounded person was a 35-year-old man, who was taken to Washington Hospital Center's MedStar trauma unit in critical condition.

Schneider said the driver died from his injuries.

"The officers were in fear for their lives, felt threatened, and we since recovered a weapon that belonged to the suspect that was in their vehicle," Schneider said.

Robert Drum, a tourist from Edmond, Oklahoma, said he saw a Mercedes being chased at a high rate of speed by two police cruisers toward a Capitol parking area, where the vehicle crashed into a barricade. That's when gunfire erupted, he said.

Police sealed off some of the entrances to the U.S. Capitol after reports of gunfire a few blocks away. The all-clear was sounded about 5:35 p.m.

Police also closed off Constitution Avenue between First St. NW and First St. NE.

The suspect has yet to be identified.

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