U.S. Capitol shooting incident

The U.S. Capitol shooting incident of 1954 was an attack on March 1, 1954 by four Puerto Rican nationalists who shot 30 rounds using automatic pistols from the Ladies' Gallery (a balcony for visitors) of the House of Representatives chamber in the United States Capitol.

The attackers, Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero, and Irving Flores Rodríguez, unfurled a Puerto Rican flag and began shooting at the 240 Representatives on the floor who were debating an immigration bill. According to Cancel Miranda's recollection of the events (given in a radio interview with Puerto Rican media in 2006), Lebrón shot her pistol towards the ceiling (as she did not wish to hurt anyone), and Figueroa's pistol jammed. Miranda suspects he was responsible for most of the injuries and damage.

Five representatives were wounded in the attack, one seriously. The wounded lawmakers were Alvin M. Bentley (R-Michigan), who took a bullet to the chest, Clifford Davis (D-Tennessee), who was shot in the leg, Ben F. Jensen (R-Iowa), who was shot in the back, as well as George Hyde Fallon (D-Maryland) and Kenneth A. Roberts (D-Alabama). House pages helped carry Alvin Bentley off the House floor. Miranda suspects he personally wounded three and perhaps four of the five injured representatives. He is also certain that Flores wounded the fifth representative.

The attackers were immediately arrested. Figueroa Cordero requested immediately (and repeatedly) to be charged with a capital crime and given capital punishment by electrocution. Lebrón had a written note in her coat explaining the motives for the attack, which she had written given the rather high probability of her being killed in crossfire. All the attackers were given minimum sentences of 70 years in prison, after their death sentences were commuted by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter freed the assailants, after they had spent 25 years in prison. Their release coincided with Fidel Castro's release of several American CIA agents being held in Cuba on espionage charges. (Figueroa Cordero had been released a year earlier, since he was sick with a terminal cancer). Carter's administration denied that there were any connections to the Cuban release, saying it was making a humanitarian gesture.

There are still bullet holes from the incident in a desk drawer on the Republican side of the House floor and one in the ceiling. As a result of this incident, the backs of the chairs on the floors of both the House of Representatives and Senate chambers were lined with bulletproof material.

Quote

Before God and the world, my blood claims for the independence of Puerto Rico. My life I give for the freedom of my country. This is a cry for victory in our struggle for independence . . . The United States of America are betraying the sacred principles of mankind in their continuous subjugation of my country . . . I take responsible for all. Lolita Lebrón, on a handwritten note found in her purse after the attack.

See also

• U.S. Capitol shooting incident (1998)

External links

• "A Terrorist in the House" by Manuel Roig-Franzia, The Washington Post Magazine, February 22, 2004, pg. W12.
• "No one expected attack on Congress in 1954" The Holland Sentinel, February 29, 2004
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: BENTLEY, Alvin Morell (1918-1969)
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: DAVIS, Clifford (1897-1970)
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: FALLON, George Hyde (1902-1980)
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: JENSEN, Benton Franklin (1892-1970)
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: ROBERTS, Kenneth Allison (1912-1989)

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