Shooting suspect Russell Weston Jr. in an undated police photo (NBC-TV via AP)

By Donald M. Rothberg
Associated Press
Saturday, July 25, 1998; 2:27 p.m. EDT

Americans returned today to their bullet-scarred Capitol less than 24 hours after a gunman fatally shot two policemen and sent a wave of fear through the national monument to freedom and democracy. The suspect was hospitalized under heavy guard, his motives still unknown.

Russell E. Weston Jr., a 41-year-old loner from Montana, was listed in critical condition after undergoing a second round of surgery for gunshot wounds.

Paul Oriaifo, a doctor at D.C. General Hospital, said Weston's chances of survival were "about 50-50." Oriaifo said Weston was bleeding profusely when he arrived at the hospital.

Weston was charged with one count of murdering a federal officer and was to be arraigned in absentia in D.C. Superior Court.

Sgt. Dan Nichols, a spokesman for the Capitol Police, appealed for witnesses to the shooting to call and give their accounts of what happened.

"We're still early into this investigation," he said. Nichols would not say whether the slain officers were wearing bulletproof vests.

Two years ago, the Secret Service investigated Weston, a former mental patient, as "a low-level threat" to President Clinton. Investigators looked for clues to his motives at his cabin in rural Montana.

Before departing on a trip to Norfolk, a solemn president described the Friday afternoon shooting as "a moment of savagery at the front door of American civilization."

He clearly concurred with the decision to reopen the Capitol as soon as possible.

"We must keep it a place where people can freely and proudly walk the halls of our government," Clinton said.

A tearful House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) delivered the Republican weekly radio address and asked Americans to join him in prayer.

"Please help this country learn to live with its freedom. Please help those who are troubled learn to live peacefully with their problems," said the speaker, a tear running down his right cheek.

The Capitol was bathed in summer sun. Tourists roamed the grounds and snapped pictures.

But the shooting left an unmistakable mark.

People left flowers, and many approached police officers to offer their sympathy.

Two first-floor entrances normally used by tourists to enter the building, including the one used by the gunman, were closed. People could walk by the area, just inside one doorway, where the two officers were gunned down and a female tourist was wounded, but their view was blocked by tall portable screens.

To enter the building, visitors had to climb the broad marble center staircase to the second floor, the location of the House and Senate chambers.

Flags flew at half-staff, and police wore strips of black cloth across their badges, in tribute to the slain officers – Jacob J. Chestnut, 58, and John Gibson, 42, both 18-year veterans of the Capitol Police. Each was married with children.

The wounded tourist was identified as Angela Dickerson, 24. She was released at midday from George Washington University Hospital, spokeswoman Lisa Saisselin said. Authorities did not disclose her home town, because the family requested complete privacy.

Plans already were under way to add the slain officers' names to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial not far from the Capitol.

"We're just doing our best. We're just trying to cope," said a Capitol Police officer who said he was a friend of Chestnut's.

Diana Andrusyshyn, of Hamden, Conn., was in the first tour group to enter the Capitol. "I thought security would be tighter today," she said.

Investigators struggled to understand why a man would enter the Capitol, draw a Smith and Wesson .38-caliber revolver and open fire.

Weston was committed to Montana's state mental hospital for 53 days in fall 1996 for evaluation and treatment after threatening a Helena resident, said Andrew Malcolm, a spokesman for Gov. Marc Racicot.

Ken Moore, who lives about a quarter-mile from Weston's cabin outside Helena, said Weston believed Moore's TV satellite dish was pointed at his house so he could be watched.

Russell Weston Sr., the suspect's father, told the Miami Herald that his son survived on federal disability benefits, had not worked since the mid-1980s and had drifted between a half-acre plot where he mined for gold in Montana and his family home in Valmeyer, Ill., 23 miles south of St. Louis.