A woman who tried to ram the gate into the White House was shot dead Thursday after she led police on a high-speed chase through Washington and wounded at least one police officer.

 

The unidentified woman had a child in the car with her, NBC and ABC News reported.

 

The drama began around 2:20 p.m., officials said, after the female motorist tried to breach security at the White House was chased at speeds of up to 80 mph in her black Infiniti by police to the Capitol.

 

She got as far as Constitution Ave., where she was killed in a gun battled on the north side of the Capitol. The condition of the child was not yet known.

 

“Shelter in place,” Capitol police officers responding to the crisis barked out.

 

The House, which had been in the midst of heated debates over how to end the government shutdown, immediately went into recess.

 

Members of Congress and their staffers scurried to their offices, closed the curtains, and locked themselves inside.

 

Meanwhile, a federal Parks police helicopter landed on the Mall directly in front of the building and quickly evacuated the wounded officer.

 

Sen.Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said he was walking from the Capitol to the Senate Russell Office Building across the street when he spotted police officers racing up Constitution Ave. on motorcyles.

 

“Within seconds of that, we heard three, four, five pops,” Casey said.

 

From inside the Senate Press Gallery, which has windows facing in that direction, frightened tourists could be seen running near the Supreme Court on 1st Street.

 

President Obama was not in Washington when the shooting started and has been briefed on the unfolding situation.

 

The shooting happened two weeks after a crazed, shotgun-toting Navy contractor went on a deadly rampage through the Navy Yard and killed a dozen people before he was shot dead.