Officer injured in Capitol attack released from hospital to cheers as lawmakers debate security measures

Officials and law enforcement weigh permanent fencing around beacon of democracy after latest assault

US Capitol Police officer Kenny Shaver was released from hospital to cheers from supporters on 3 April after a suspect rammed a car into a police barricade outside the US Capitol.

Another officer, William Evans, an 18-year veteran of the force, was killed in the attack.

The suspect, named Noah Green, was fatally shot by police.

The attack has revived debate among lawmakers about additional security measures and whether additional fencing around the Capitol area should remain, after it was dismantled two months after being put in place in the wake of the deadly insurrection on 6 January that led to the deaths of at least eight people.

Republican US Senator Roy Blunt told ABC’S This Week on Sunday that “it’d be a mistake for fencing to be a permanent part of the Capitol”.

“Though the idea that what happens next at the Capitol will be what happened last is almost certain not to be the case,” he said.

Read more:

• Trump demands MLB boycott after ‘woke’ protest at Georgia voting law
• Matt Gaetz shared nude photo on House floor of woman he said he slept with, report says
• Marjorie Taylor Greene says Biden’s vaccine passport plan should be called ‘the Mark of the Beast’
• Matt Gaetz: The Florida congressman who became Donald Trump’s most outspoken ally

Retired Lt Gen Russel Honore, who is leading an assessment of Capitol security measures following the assault on 6 January, underscored the bipartisan support for leaving in place some proactive security measures while also assuring that the Capitol complex, an icon of American democracy, remain open to the public.

“From inside the Capitol, talking to many members of Congress on both the Senate and the House side – both parties – they all left us with the impression that the number one mission is to secure the Capitol, but make sure it has 100 per cent public access,” he told ABC.

Following a review of Capitol security measures, US Capitol Police removed outer fencing late last month. The agency announced that “all of the fencing that surrounded the outer perimeter of the US Capitol Complex has been removed. Affected roads have reopened. The USCP is ready to quickly ramp up security at a moment’s notice, if needed.”

It added that the inner perimeter fence, around the Capitol Building itself, is still in place while law enforcement and members of Congress “strengthen our security posture”.

Earlier that month, Capitol police chief Yogananda Pittman proposed permanent fencing around the Capitol.

She said that “vast improvements to the physical security infrastructure must be made to include permanent fencing, and the availability of ready, back-up forces in close proximity to the Capitol”.

Senator Blunt along with Senator Chris Van Hollen and delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton have proposed legislation to prohibit permanent fencing around the Capitol.