There was a remarkable scene in Washington this afternoon, where a driver tried to breach the security perimeter at the White House, failed, and then fled towards Capitol Hill, about a mile and a half east. She then abandoned her car and was shot by law enforcement.*
Capitol Hill immediately went into lock-down mode, though it was brief and the order has since been lifted. The crisis appears to have passed.
But at 2:24 p.m. eastern, shortly after people first heard shots, there was already at attempt to politicize the gun violence. Rep. Tim Griffin, an Arkansas Republican and U.S Attorney in the Bush/Cheney administration, blamed Democrats:
Griffin later deleted the message and walked back the sentiment, saying he “tweeted out of emotion.” The GOP lawmaker has not yet apologized.
* Update: Initial reports said the driver opened fire, but NBC News is now reporting that all the shots fired in the incident came from law enforcement, not the woman in the car. I’ve updated the above text accordingly.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."