The US Capitol was locked down briefly yesterday after gunshots were fired outside the building in a car chase across central Washington during which a female suspect was killed by police.

A number of people including a law enforcement officer were hurt, officials said.

The shooting rattled the US capital three weeks after 12 people were killed and three injured in a shooting spree by a government technology contractor at the US Navy Yard, about 2.4 kilometres from the Capitol.

The US House of Representatives and Senate were in session when the gunshots were heard.

A source said the incident started when a vehicle struck a security barrier at 15th and Pennsylvania avenue, near the White House. Police chased the vehicle for about one-and-a-half mile to 2nd Street and Constitution Avenue, near the Capitol, where the shots were fired.

A policeman was injured in a car crash resulting from the chase and was taken from the shooting scene in a Medevac helicopter, a U.S. official and police said.

The lockdown order at the Capitol was called off and security along Independence Avenue was eased shortly before 3pm. Tourists were allowed back onto the Capitol grounds.

Just before Capitol Police sealed off the building, the Senate and House were in session. On the Senate floor, Senator John McCain of Arizona was urging that President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of senators launch negotiations to break the deadlock over government funding and a debt limit increase.

The House had just passed a bill to fund the National Guard and reservists who are not on active duty during the shutdown.

The Capitol police, who were deemed “essential” staff, were at work despite the shutdown but they are not being paid. President Barack Obama was briefed on the incident, a White House official said, providing no further details.

In 1998, a gunman burst through a security checkpoint at the Capitol and killed two Capitol Police officers.