Wisconsin lawmakers at Capitol Hill react to shooting

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Wisconsin lawmakers were at the Capitol Thursday afternoon, October 3rd as shots were fired and a lock-down incident unfolded. The warning system at the Capitol went into effect after a woman allegedly slammed into a gate at the White House and sped off towards Capitol Hill.

Both senators and two representatives who spoke with FOX6 said they were thankful for the way authorities handled the situation.

"I immediately gathered with my staff -- we have a skeleton staff on with the shut down -- but I wanted to make sure that everyone who was supposed to be here was accounted for and safe," explained Senator Tammy Baldwin.

"We heard the beepers go off and the warnings and the instructions to shelter in place," said Senator Ron Johnson.

The Wisconsin senators were both in the Hart Senate Building just as the alarm system began to alert people to shelter in place.

"People gathered around the TV sets to find out, okay, please God don't let another one of these tragedies occur," said Johnson.

"We basically tried to monitor the situation and get any news we could via social media and the Senate alert system that was giving periodic updates," said Baldwin.

Representatives Gwyn Moore of Milwaukee and Tom Petri of Fond du Lac were also in Washington and felt unnerved by the alarms. Representative Moore said she's been concerned about something like this happening since the government shut down.

"My initial reaction was oh my god, just what I thought -- This diminished sense of the government having any kind of control has emboldened some people to commit criminal actions," said Moore.

"My first thought was oh no, here we go again. We're going to have to evacuate the building," Petri said.

Representative Petri hopes the incident will urge people to work together after realizing the bigger problems that exist in the world.

The lock-down was lifted a short while later after the suspect was shot dead by police.