U.S. Capitol Police Officer William F. Evans killed, another injured, after being attacked Friday

U.S. Capitol Police Officer William F. Evans was killed, and another officer injured, after being attacked on Friday, per The New York Times.

Evans, known to his friends as “Billy,” was an 18-year veteran of the Capitol Police, according to the Times.

The two officers were first rammed by a vehicle and then attacked by the driver, who was shot and killed after exiting the vehicle “with a knife in his hand and starting to run at the pair of officers,” the Associated Press reported. Officials initially said one of the officers had been stabbed, but by Friday evening that was unclear, according to the AP.

• Capitol Police said the second officer, who had not been named Friday evening, was in “stable and nonthreatening condition,” reported The New York Times.
• An Indiana man, 25-year-old Noah Green, was identified as the alleged attacker, the Times reported.

“It is with a very, very heavy heart that I announce one of our officers has succumbed to his injuries,” Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said emotionally at a news conference Friday, The New York Times reported. “I just ask that the public keep the U.S. Capitol Police and their families in your prayers.”

Capitol Police initially said all three people involved — the two officers and the driver — had been taken to the hospital, and the AP reported that the alleged attacker died there.

On Twitter, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, called Evans a “martyr for our democracy.”

“May it be a comfort to his family that so many mourn with them & pray for them at this sad time,” Pelosi added.

The FBI said in a statement it “is responding and providing support to Capitol Police,” according to The Washington Post.

Early Friday afternoon, Capitol Police said on Twitter there was a “CRITICAL INCIDENT” and that is was “responding to the North Barricade vehicle access point along Independence Avenue for reports someone rammed a vehicle into two USCP officers. A suspect is in custody. Both officers are injured.”

The AP reported shortly after that the U.S. Capitol complex was locked down and staff was not allowed to enter or leave buildings there. Parts of Constitution Avenue and First Street were closed “due to the external security threat at the North Barricade of the U.S. Capitol,” police said.

• “Authorities said that there wasn’t an ongoing threat and that the attack did not appear to be related to terrorism, though the Capitol was put on lockdown as a precaution,” reported the AP, and that Congress was on a recess.
• The lockdown was eventually lifted later Friday afternoon, said New York Times Congressional reporter Emily Cochrane on Twitter.

There was “no immediate connection” between Friday’s attack and the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, The Associated Press reported. A Capitol Police officer was also killed during that riot and two other officers, who had been at the Capitol during Jan. 6 riot, “later died by suicide,” according to The Washington Post.

• “Fencing that prevented vehicular traffic near that area was recently removed as the Capitol has started to open up after the Jan. 6 riots,” according to the AP.
• The incident happened “two weeks after law enforcement authorities removed an outer perimeter fence, opening Independence and Constitution avenues to traffic. An inner-perimeter fence remains around the complex,” according to the Post.