A US Capitol Police officer has died of injuries suffered amid clashes with a crowd of supporters of President Donald Trump who overran a Congressional session, police said late Thursday.
It was the first killing by law enforcement resulting from the unrest on Wednesday at the Capitol that saw flag-waving protesters overwhelming police and bursting into the legislature.
Four demonstrators, including a woman shot by the officers, have died. On the Capitol grounds, three other deaths were reported, but the reasons remained unknown.
Capitol Police reported in a statement that Officer Brian Sicknick, a 12-year veteran of the department, was “responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters.”
“He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries” on Thursday night, it said.