April 2021 United States Capitol car attack

For the left-wing perspective of the January 6 protests/riots, see 2021 United States Capitol attack.

For the right-wing perspective of the January 6 protests/riots, see 2021 Capitol protests.

April 2021 United States Capitol car attack
File:North Barricade (Flowers near the Capitol - panoramio (2) (cropped)).jpg The Capitol's Constitution Avenue checkpoint, where the attack occurred (pictured 2009)
Location	United States Capitol, Washington, D.C., United States
Coordinates
Date	April 2, 2021 1:00 p.m. (EDT)
Attack type	Vehicle-ramming attack
Weapons	Car
Deaths	2 (including the perpetrator)
Injured	1
Perpetrator	Noah Ricardo Green

On April 2, 2021, a man deliberately rammed a car into a barricade outside the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., killing Capitol Police officer William Evans. A second officer was injured. Police officers shot the perpetrator, who later died at a hospital from the gunshot wounds. The Capitol complex was locked down, although Congress was in spring recess, so only a few members of Congress were in the building. The perpetrator was identified as Noah Green, a 25-year-old with a history of delusions and paranoia. The attack took place 86 days after the 2021 United States Capitol attack, led by supporters of Donald Trump.

Incident

On April 2, Officer William Evans was posted at a checkpoint on Constitution Avenue usually used by Senators and staff members on weekdays, about 100 yards (91 m) from the entrance of the building on the Senate side. At about 1 PM, a man deliberately crashed a sedan into the barricade. The vehicle struck Officer Evans and another officer; Evans was hospitalized and died from his injuries. After ramming the two officers, the driver exited the vehicle with a knife, lunged at officers, and ignored verbal commands before being shot by police. The perpetrator was arrested, hospitalized and died of his wounds soon afterward.

The Capitol was placed on lockdown after the attack and staff were told to shelter in place, while members of the National Guard's Immediate Reaction Force mobilized near the checkpoint. The lockdown was lifted later that day.

At the time, slightly less than 2,300 National Guard troops were assigned to protect the Capitol and its grounds, a mission that had begun after the January 6 attack against the Capitol. The number of troops had been drawn down from its peak for the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, when some 26,000 troops were stationed in the capital to provide security for the ceremony.

Victim

William Francis Evans
File:William Evans (police officer) (cropped).jpg
Born	(1980-02-18)February 18, 1980 North Adams, Massachusetts, United States
Died	Washington, D.C., United States
Police career
Department	United States Capitol Police
Years of service	18

William Francis Evans (February 18, 1980 – April 2, 2021) was the Capitol Police officer killed during the attack. Born in North Adams, Massachusetts, the son of Howard and Janice Evans, he attended Drury High School and earned a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from Western New England University before joining the Capitol Police force on March 7, 2003. He served for 18 years with the United States Capitol Police, and was a member of the first responder unit. After Green attacked him and a fellow officer, Evans died in George Washington University Hospital of blunt force head injuries. He was the sixth Capitol Police officer to die in the line of duty since the force was created in 1828, and the second in 2021, after Brian Sicknick.

File:President Joe Biden pays his respects for U.S. Capitol Police Officer William Evans.jpg

Officer William Evans lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda on April 13

Evans' body was driven away from the hospital with a police escort. On April 6, 2021, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Evans would lie in honor in the Capitol rotunda on April 13, 2021. Evans is one of only six people who were not a public official or military leader to lie in honor in the Capitol. He was divorced and had two children.

Perpetrator

Early life and education

Noah Green, age 25, was the assailant. Born in Fairlea, West Virginia, into a family with ten children, he grew up in Covington, Virginia, in the southwestern part of the state, and graduated from Alleghany High School. In high school, he played football and participated in track and field. He attended Glenville State College before transferring to Christopher Newport University (CNU) in Newport News, Virginia, where he was a defensive back on the football team.

Years before the attack

People who knew Green described him as athletic and popular in high school and college, but after he graduated from CNU, he became deeply paranoid and religious, leaving family and friends concerned that his mental state was unraveling. A U.S. official said Green increasingly suffered delusions, paranoia, and suicidal thoughts.

Family and friends said Green believed people had drugged him with Xanax in 2019, leaving him with addiction and withdrawal symptoms. A former teammate told The Washington Post most people regarded this claim as unrealistic. After moving into an apartment in Newport News, he reported hallucinations, headaches, heart palpitations, and suicidal thoughts, which his brother believed might be related to drug use or a mental disorder. One day, admittedly inspired by drugs, he abruptly abandoned his apartment in Newport News and moved to Indianapolis. While there, he told his brother he believed his apartment was being broken into by intruders. His brother said he appeared to be mentally disturbed.

Green also wrote in Facebook posts shortly before the attack that "these past few years have been tough, and these past few months have been tougher" and that he had quit his job "partly due to my afflictions". He posted about the end times and the Antichrist. In a March 15 post, he encouraged "everyone to study Revelations [recte Revelation], study the signs of end times, study who the best [recte beast] is, study who the anti-Christ is, study who the false prophet is, and study the created images during those times." Two days later, he made a post possibly referring to his claim of being drugged by teammates, blaming the drugging for steering him off the "right track".

Green became a follower of the Nation of Islam (NOI), a Black nationalist organization, and its leader Louis Farrakhan. On Facebook, he posted messages in support of the NOI, as well as speeches and articles by Farrakhan and his predecessor Elijah Muhammad. He petitioned to change his name to Noah Zaeem Muhammad in December 2020, but did not attend the name change hearing in Indianapolis, which was held four days before the attack. He also posted a Farrakhan video entitled "the crucifixion of Michael Jackson" on March 21. In posts the week before the attack, he wrote that he believed Farrakhan had saved him "after the terrible afflictions I have suffered presumably by the CIA and FBI, government agencies of the United States of America" and claimed that "I have suffered multiple home break-ins, food poisonings, assaults, unauthorized operations in the hospital, [and] mind control."

According to his brother, a few months before the attack, Green left Indianapolis and moved to Botswana, where he told his brother that "his mind was telling him to basically commit suicide." He jumped in front of a car, seriously injuring himself, then returned to the U.S., where he moved in with his brother. Two weeks before the attack, Green posted a photo of a "Certificate of Completion" for a $1,085 donation he had made, under the name "Noah X" (in the style of Nation of Islam spokesman Malcolm X), to the Nation of Islam's Norfolk, Virginia chapter for Saviours' Day, along with a link to a Farrakhan speech called "The Divine Destruction of America". The night before the attack, he became violently ill and texted his brother, "I'm just going to go and live and be homeless."

Investigation

Investigators believe Green's attack was caused by a combination of his mental health issues and an ideological cause which he believed justified violence. He was not known to police before the attack and had no known connection to a member of Congress.

Response

Acting Capitol Police chief Yogananda Pittman said the attack "has been an extremely difficult time" for her police force, especially in the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol attack.

Many members of Congress praised the actions of the Capitol Police, the National Guard, and other first responders; and they also offered condolences to the police force and the family of the slain police officer. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called Evans a "martyr for democracy" and ordered the flags at the Capitol to be lowered to half-staff in his memory. She offered her condolences and support to Evans' mother and two children.

President Joe Biden said he and First Lady Jill Biden "were heartbroken to learn of the violent attack"; expressed condolences to Officer Evans' family and other bereaved; and expressed "the nation's gratitude to the Capitol Police, the National Guard Immediate Response Force, and others who quickly responded to this attack". He ordered flags lowered to half-staff at the White House and all public buildings, as a sign of respect for the service and sacrifice of Capitol Police officers.

Green's family issued a statement, saying they "were just as taken aback as the rest of the nation from this horrific event" and "feel great sympathy" for the police officers attacked. Green was "not a terrorist by any means", had "depression and potential mental illness", and "hardships with his peers" that began after repeated head trauma from playing football.

After the attack, the Nation of Islam distanced itself from Green. The group said that while Green sought to become a member of their organization, he was not a registered member of the Nation of Islam. It appears that in late summer (August–September) of 2020, he started the process to begin his study to become a member, but he did not complete the process." The group said Green's act "violates our teachings" and they "absolutely disavow this act that resulted in the senseless loss of life".

See also

• 1954 United States Capitol shooting
• 1983 United States Senate bombing
• 1998 United States Capitol shooting
• Shooting of Miriam Carey (2013)