LIVE COVERAGE: Gov. Cooper calls Trump supporters storming U.S. Capitol ‘terrorism’

image courtesy [ABC News]

Supporters of President Donald Trump and his unproven claims of widespread election fraud flooded the streets of Washington on Wednesday, clashed with police outside the Capitol and breached the building, forcing a lockdown with lawmakers still inside.

Live coverage from ABC News Radio can be heard on News Talk 92.3 WZPR at 923WZPR.com.

N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper called the rioting terrorism.

“The peaceful transition of power is the hallmark of our democracy. Today’s terrorism is not who we are. This attack on our country must be overcome. America is better than this,” he wrote on social media.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said he was sending the Virginia National Guard and 200 Virginia State Police troopers to the U.S. Capitol this afternoon at the request of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Members of Congress inside the House chamber were told by police to put on gas masks after tear gas was dispersed in Capitol Rotunda, WTOP.com reports. U.S. Capitol police report protesters have breached the Senate chambers.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered a citywide curfew starting at 6 p.m. Wednesday until 6 a.m. Thursday.

Before they entered the building, WTOP’s Alejandro Alvarez estimated that “at least a thousand people” gathered beneath the west front of the Capitol building.

“I can hear someone declaring on a megaphone: ‘March forward, march forward,’” Alvarez said.

He reported hearing a large bang from the front of the crowd right after.

“‘Move forward, patriots,’ somebody is shouting,” Alvarez said.

He reported that protesters are going face-to-face with a line of riot police who are attempting to prevent further access to the western front of the Capitol.

Pepper spray has been used, Alvarez said. “But despite that, nobody, neither the police nor the group of Trump supporters, appear to be moving anywhere.”

There are reports of one woman shot in the chest on the Capitol grounds and several other reports of injuries.

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Sam Walker was news director for OBXToday.com, Beach 104, 99.1 The Sound, Big 94.5 WCMS and Z 92.3 from August 2011 to March 2022.