As the mob swarmed into the U.S. Capitol, Pennsylvania congresswoman Susan Wild took cover, squeezing into a tight aisle in an upper-floor gallery and inching across the floor as supporters of President Donald Trump banged on the doors.
"That was when it really started to get scary,” said Wild, 63, describing Wednesday’s dramatic siege of the complex that houses the U.S. Congress. After she fumbled to work a gas mask and briefly lost a shoe while dragging herself toward a door to evacuate, gunfire rang out. Police shouted, "Get down. Get down. Get down!” as people screamed, Wild said in an interview.
Moments earlier, as hundreds of rioters stormed the building, U.S. Capitol Police officers barricaded the lawmakers inside the chamber of the House of Representatives, where they had just started the final certification of electoral votes showing Democrat Joe Biden had beaten Trump in the November election.
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