List of incidents of political violence in Washington, D.C.

The following is a list of incidents of political violence in Washington, D.C. Also included are events having taken place in locations which are part of the Washington Metropolitan area due to the close proximity of the capital.

19th century

Burning of Washington, Paul de Thoyras
  • April 13, 1832: Sam Houston confronted Representative William Stanbery (OH-08) in Washington, D.C. and beat him repeatedly with a hickory walking stick after Stanbery accused him of profiteering off Andrew Jackson's forced relocation of Native Americans. During the fight Stanbery pulled a gun, placed it on Houston's chest, and pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired. Houston was arrested and charged with breaching the privileges of the House by assaulting Stanbery for remarks made from the floor.[1]
  • January 30, 1835: Just outside the U.S. Capitol, house painter Richard Lawrence aimed two flintlock pistols at President Andrew Jackson, but both misfired: one of them while Lawrence stood within 13 feet (4.0 m) of Jackson, and the other at point-blank range. Lawrence was apprehended after Jackson beat him down with a cane. At trial, Lawrence was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the remainder of his life in insane asylums.[2]
  • May 22, 1856: Caning of Charles Sumner: Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner (MA) was savagely beaten with a cane and nearly killed by pro-slavery Representative Preston Brooks (SC-04) on the floor of the U.S. Senate in retaliation for a speech criticizing slavery. It has been considered symbolic of the "breakdown of reasoned discourse" and the use of violence that eventually led to the American Civil War.[4]
Lithograph of Preston Brooks' 1856 attack on Sumner; the artist depicts the faceless assailant bludgeoning Sumner
  • July 2, 1881: Assassination of James A. Garfield: President James A. Garfield was assassinated at 9:30 a.m. while he waited for a train at Washington's Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station on the National Mall (at the present location of the National Gallery of Art), less than four months after he took office. As the president was arriving at the train station, writer and lawyer Charles J. Guiteau shot him twice; one bullet grazed the president's shoulder, and the other pierced his back. For the next eleven weeks, Garfield endured medical malpractice before dying on September 19, 1881 at 10:35 p.m. of complications caused by infections, which were contracted by the doctors' relentless probing of his wound with unsterilized fingers and instruments. Guiteau was immediately arrested. After a highly publicized trial lasting from November 14, 1881, to January 25, 1882, he was found guilty and sentenced to death, which took place on June 30, 1882. Guiteau was assessed during his trial as mentally unbalanced or from the effects of syphilis on the brain. He claimed to have shot Garfield out of disappointment at being passed over for appointment as Ambassador to France.

20th century

Damage done by the bomb at Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer's house
  • July 28, 1932: Bonus Army Conflict: a group of 43,000 demonstrators – made up of 17,000 U.S. World War I veterans, together with their families and affiliated groups – gathered in Washington, D.C. to demand early cash redemption of their service certificates. U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the group to be removed from all government property. Washington police, met with resistance, shot at the protestors, and two veterans were wounded and later died. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the U.S. Army to clear the marchers' campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded a contingent of infantry and cavalry, supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers were driven out and their shelters and belongings burned.
  • January 29, 1975: A device exploded in the third-floor women's bathroom of the U.S. Department of State, causing several walls to collapse and creating damage on five floors of the building. Damage was estimated at $350,000. A bomb threat was called into the Washington Post several minutes before the blast by the radical group the Weather Underground Organization. The group cited the continued war in Vietnam and Cambodia and the continued U.S. support for those governments.[12]
  • November 28, 1979: Suzanne Osgood, who had a history of mental problems and suffered from schizophrenia, stormed the reception room of Senator Ted Kennedy's (MA) office with a knife while he was present. Osgood attacked Secret Service agents, but was captured and turned over to Capitol police.[15] After the attack, the security for Kennedy was increased for his presidential campaign.[16]
  • June 3, 1980: Bombing of Yugoslavian official's home: The Crestwood residence of Yugoslavian Charge d’Affaires Vladimir Sindjelic was bombed by Croatian terrorists. A State Department official told the Washington Post that the bombing was a political act, an attempt to protest President Jimmy Carter’s trip to Yugoslavia later that month.[17]
  • March 30, 1981: Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan: President Ronald Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr. after a speaking engagement by Reagan at the Hilton Washington. Hinckley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had become obsessed. White House Press Secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and police officer Thomas Delahanty were also wounded. All three survived, but Brady suffered brain damage and was permanently disabled. His death in 2014 was considered a homicide because it was ultimately caused by this injury.
Ronald Reagan waves just before he is shot. From left are Jerry Parr, Press Secretary James Brady, Reagan, aide Michael Deaver, an unidentified policeman, policeman Thomas Delahanty, and secret service agent Timothy J. McCarthy.
  • December 8, 1982: Norman Mayer, an anti-nuclear weapons activist and eccentric, drove a white van up to the base of the Washington Monument. Mayer claimed to have 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of explosives in the van, which he said he would use to destroy the monument unless a national dialogue on the threat of nuclear weapons was seriously undertaken. He held off police for ten hours before he started to roll the van towards the White House, at which point U.S. Park Police snipers shot Mayer dead. No explosives were found in the van.[19]
  • April 26, 1983: A bomb exploded at the National War College at Fort McNair in SW Washington, shattering windows and cracking walls in the building and doing $100,000 worth of damage but no injuries.[20][21]
  • August 18, 1983: A bomb went off at the Washington Navy Yard's Computer Center, doing minor damage and causing no injuries. The "Armed Resistance Unit," a cover name for the militant leftist group May 19th Communist Movement, claimed credit for the attack.[21]
  • November 7, 1983: United States Senate bombing: The "Armed Resistance Unit," a cover name for the militant leftist group May 19th Communist Movement, exploded a bomb on the second floor of the U.S. Capitol's north wing, causing estimated damages of $250,000. The bombing was a response to the U.S. invasion of Grenada.
  • April 20, 1984: A bomb exploded at the Washington Navy Yard Officers Club. The "Armed Resistance Unit," a cover name for the militant leftist group May 19th Communist Movement, claimed credit for the attack.[21]
  • October 29, 1994: Francisco Martin Duran used a rifle to fire at least 29 shots at the White House from a fence overlooking the north lawn, thinking that President Bill Clinton was among the men in dark suits standing on the lawn (Clinton was in the White House Residence watching a football game). Three tourists, Harry Rakosky, Ken Davis, and Robert Haines, tackled Duran before he could injure anyone. Duran was found to have a suicide note in his pocket, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.[23]
  • July 24, 1998: United States Capitol shooting: Russell Eugene Weston, Jr., a paranoid schizophrenic with a strong distrust of the Federal Government, opened fire at one of the U.S. Capitol's checkpoints and killed two Capitol police officers, one of whom had wounded Weston. Weston was not charged because of his mental condition and was sent to a Federal mental institution.

21st century

  • February 7, 2001: Robert W. Pickett, an accountant who had been fired from the IRS thirteen years earlier, fired a number of shots from outside the White House; President George W. Bush was inside. Pickett was shot by a Secret Service officer and arrested: he was later found to have emotional problems and employment grievances, and sentenced in July 2001 to three years' imprisonment.[24]
  • November 11, 2011: White House shooting: Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez fired nine rifle shots at the White House. Two bullets struck the White House, one being stopped by ballistic glass in a window. No one was hurt in the incident. In the months before the shooting, Ortega-Hernandez began to believe that the U.S. government was controlling its citizens and needed to be stopped.
  • 2020–21 United States election protests:
    • November 14, 2020: Thousands of protesters rallied to support President Donald Trump's claims of widespread election fraud perpetrated during the 2020 United States presidential election, believing that the election fraud was the direct cause of his losing the election. Attendees included white nationalists and members of far-right groups such as the Proud Boys, as well as counter-protestors from various far-left organizations. After nightfall, violence broke out between the attendees and counter-protesters. The latter began stealing MAGA hats and flags and proceeded to light them on fire. The chaos culminated at 8:00 p.m. when violence broke out five blocks east of the White House. The opposing groups charged each other, brawling for several minutes before police intervened. At least 10 were arrested and two officers were injured; one man was stabbed.[25]
    • December 12, 2020: Supporters of President Trump hosted a "Stop the Steal" rally at the Freedom Plaza, drawing 10,000–15,000 attendees. Nearby, about 200 members of the Proud Boys, dressed in combat fatigues and ballistic vests, carrying helmets, and reportedly using white nationalist signals, clashed with reported members of antifa.[26] In fights between the two groups, 4 people were stabbed and at least 23 were arrested.[27] Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio removed and burned a Black Lives Matter sign at Asbury United Methodist Church, one of Washington, D.C.'s oldest Black houses of worship. Tarrio was arrested on January 4, 2021 upon entering Miami on additional gun charges.[28]
      Police release tear gas outside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021
    • January 6, 2021: Storming of the United States Capitol: A mob of rioters supporting President Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election stormed the U.S. Capitol during speeches made by Trump and his allies at a rally. After breaching multiple police perimeters, they damaged and occupied parts of the building for several hours. National Guard units from several states were called up to deal with the violence, while the riots resulted in five deaths (one rioter was shot by police, three rioters died of "medical emergencies," and one police officer died from injuries suffered during the riot),[29] over 80 arrests, and nearly 140 officers were injured. Several high-profile members of the government and Capitol security resigned, including the chief of the Capitol Police, and the Sergeants-at-Arms of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Over 70 other countries and international organizations expressed their concerns over the protests and condemned the violence.

Washington Metropolitan Area

  • May 15, 1972: Attempted assassination of Governor George Wallace: Arthur Bremer, an out-of-work janitor, shot George Wallace four times in the abdomen, who was speaking at a campaign rally outside a shopping center in Laurel, Maryland. One of the bullets was lodged into Wallace's spinal chord, leaving Wallace permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Bremer was sentenced to 53 years in prison for attempted murder, and was released on parole 35 years later in 2007.[30]
Debris from American Airlines Flight 77 scattered near the Pentagon
  • October 2 – 24, 2002: D.C. sniper attacks: John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo coordinated a series of shootings in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Ten people were killed and three were critically wounded. The duo's crime spree began earlier in 2002 with robberies across the U.S., in which they killed seven people and wounded seven others. They were apprehended by police on October 24. Muhammad was sentenced to death and Malvo, a juvenile, was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences without parole. At the 2006 trial of Muhammad, Malvo testified that the aim of the killing spree was to kidnap children for the purpose of extorting money from the government.
  • March 1, 2007: Paul Joyal, a security analyst and critic of the administration of Russian president Vladimir Putin, was shot and wounded in front of his Adelphi, Maryland home. The shooting occurred four days after Joyal told Dateline NBC that the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko served as a warning to all critics of the Putin government. There was speculation that the shooting may have been in retaliation for the interview. The case is still unsolved.[34]
  • September 1, 2010: James Lee entered the Discovery Channel headquarters building in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland carrying a gun and explosives. Taking hostages, he held off police for several hours before he was shot and killed. Mr. Lee had issues with the Discovery Channel about their broadcasts dealing with the environment.[35]

See also

References

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  2. Clarke, James W. (2012). Defining Danger: American Assassins and the New Domestic Terrorists. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. p. 236–239. ISBN 978-1-4128-4590-8. OCLC 743040369.
  3. "A Near Gun Fight on the House Floor". History, Art & Archives. United States House of Representatives. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  4. "The Caning of Senator Charles Sumner". United States Senate. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  5. Zahniser, J. D.; Fry, Amelia R. (2014). Alice Paul: Claiming Power. Oxford University Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-019-995842-9.
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  7. Murray, Robert K. (1955). Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919–1920. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. p. 78. ISBN 0-8166-5833-1.
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  11. Delaney, Paul (January 25, 1973). "Survivor Tells How 7 Moslems Died in Washington". New York Times. Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  12. "Weather Underground Bombings". FBI. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  13. "Pinochet directly ordered killing on US soil of Chilean diplomat, papers reveal". The Guardian. October 8, 2015. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  14. Jones, Mark (March 14, 2014). "The Hanafi Siege of 1977". Boundary Stones. WETA. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  15. "Woman With Knife After Ted Kennedy". Indiana Gazette. November 28, 1979. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Disturbed woman's story". Press Democrat. November 29, 1979. p. 5. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020 via Newspapers.com.
  17. Orton, Kathy (March 30, 2016). "D.C. home back on market after surviving bomb, international custody battle". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on August 30, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  18. Iovino, Jim; Clancy, Michael (June 10, 2009). "Who is James Wenneker von Brunn?". NBC New York. Archived from the original on February 16, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  19. Shribman, David (December 9, 1982). "Man Slain in Capital Monument Threat". New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  20. Lewis, Nancy; Michnya, Rosa (April 27, 1983). "Bomb Explodes at Fort McNair, Blowing Out War College Window". Washington Post. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  21. Day, Susie (February 1989). "Political Prisoners: Guilty Until Proven Innocent". Sojourner: The Women's Forum.
  22. Pear, Robert (September 13, 1994). "Crash at the White House: The Pilot; Friends Depict Loner With Unraveling Life". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  23. Locy, Toni (April 5, 1995). "Duran Convicted Of Trying to Kill President Clinton". Washington Post. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  24. Multiple:
  25. Lang, Marissa J.; Miller, Michael E.; Jamison, Peter; Moyer, Justin Wm; Williams, Clarence; Hermann, Peter; Kunkle, Fredrick; Cox, John Woodrow. "After thousands of Trump supporters rally in D.C., violence erupts when night falls". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  26. "Pro-Trump protests decry president's election loss, opposing groups clash in Washington". CNBC. December 13, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  27. Khalil, Ashraf (December 13, 2020). "Four People Stabbed and At Least 23 Arrested at Pro-Trump Rally in D.C." Time Magazine. Archived from the original on December 19, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  28. Stelloh, Tim (January 4, 2021). "Proud Boys leader arrested, accused of destroying D.C. church's Black Lives Matter sign". NBC News. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  29. Tan, Rebecca; Thompson, Steve; Olivo, Antonio. "Few details so far about deaths of 'medical emergency' victims in rioting at Capitol". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  30. Nuckols, Ben (August 23, 2007). "Wallace shooter to be released". USA Today. Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 16, 2009. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
  31. Jacobs, Ron (1997). The Way the Wind Blew: A history of the Weather Underground. Verso. p. 142. ISBN 1-85984-167-8.
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  33. Silverman, Ira (July 29, 2002). "An American Terrorist". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved September 17, 2009.
  34. Curry, Ann (February 25, 2007). "Who killed Alexander Litvinenko?". NBC News. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  35. Morse, Dan (September 3, 2010). "James J. Lee's hostage standoff at Discovery was grueling time for officials". Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
  36. Porter, Brian L. (October 6, 2017). Use of Force Investigation and Analysis (PDF) (Report). p. 37. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 8, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
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