Riot Aftermath

What Happened at the US Capitol

On Wednesday night, once the US Capitol was secure and Congress returned to do their work, Vice President Mike Pence addressed the Senate saying "Today was a dark day in the United States Capitol. To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the People's House." The job of certifying the election then continued. What else happened though?

Some are still calling it a protest, but clearly it went way past that. They were protesters when they gathered for a "Save America" rally on the Ellipse, where President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and some members of Congress addressed them. Trump encouraged his supporters to "fight like hell" to "take back our country" and to march towards the Capitol. If you listen, it sounds very much like the President is telling them to interrupt the Congressional proceedings. His lawyer Giuliani was even more chilling when he called for "trial by combat." They marched. Then, breaking windows and doors, hey entered and occupied the US Capitol. Improvised explosive devices were found. A cooler full of Molotov cocktails was also discovered.

There was a woman, part of the mob, who was shot by a member of law enforcement. She died from her injuries. A police officer also died as a result of injuries sustained on duty. Three other people died due to “medical emergencies” of some sort. There were 56 officers injured and an unknow number of the rioters injured.

I find all of this pretty scary. If you have ever worked at a place that was robbed at gunpoint or where some other kind of attack occurred, you may have a small sense of the fear, but then remember that this was the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.  If it can happen there, what other places might need to worry?  So now what?  How do we return to feeling safe and secure?  How do we stop people - our fellow Americans, from doing such horrible things.  What do YOU think?