Suozzi recalls mad dash for safety at Capitol

U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, of Glen Cove, was in the House of Representatives chamber when the Capitol was breached by protesters Wednesday afternoon. A debate over certification of Electoral College results in the presidential election was under way, sometime between 3 and 4 p.m., when Congress members were instructed to retrieve the gas masks from under their chairs.

“Tear gas had been used in the Rotunda,” Suozzi said during a call to the press while he remained in an undisclosed area. His voice was measured and calm when sharing his experience. “The chaplain of the Congress said a prayer. The doors in the chamber were locked, but then people began banging on them.”

Capitol Police drew their guns. Republican and Democratic lawmakers huddled together, Suozzi said. A protester broke through the glass on the main door, which the president enters through for the State of the Union.

“The glass is broken, but I don’t know if it was shots or banging,” Suozzi said. “I did hear a ‘pop, pop, pop.’”

Representatives on the floor of the chamber were escorted out first. Suozzi was upstairs in the gallery, far from the door, at the time. “At one point we were concerned that we couldn’t exit, so 30 of us stayed there,” he said. “We wanted to see if [protesters] would break through the doors. Capitol Police had their weapons drawn.”

Members of Congress and their staffs tried to determine which door to use for an exit because they could hear people in the hallways. “We finally left the chambers, and I saw several protesters on the floor surrounded by Capitol Police,” Suozzi said. “We went downstairs through a labyrinth, and I saw people sheltering in place.”

Suozzi felt strongly, he said, that the members of Congress should return to chambers to continue the process of certifying the presidential election. “We must show countries that our democracy will continue to survive and thrive even in the mist of this lawlessness,” he said. “We cannot allow thugs and violent people to change the way that our country works.”

As of press time at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, tens of thousands of Trump supporters had stormed the U.S. Capitol, overrunning police barricades, scaling walls and entering the heavily protected structure. The protesters had forced security to barricade the doors to the House chamber with furniture, their weapons drawn, prepared to fire. The Associated Press was reporting that an unidentified protester had been shot, and National Guard troops were in route to the Capitol to restore order, along with officers from the Federal Protective Service and Secret Service.