Russell Eugene Weston Jr . This article describes one of two major shooting incidents that have taken place at the U.S. Capitol ; the other is described at U.S. Capitol shooting incident ( 1954 ) Russell Eugene Weston Jr. ( born December 28 , 1956 ) shot and killed two U.S. Capitol Police officers using a .38 caliber pistol loaded with so-called `` cop killer '' bullets at the U.S. Capitol on July 24 , 1998 . He was mentally ill at that time and has been confined in psychiatric hospitals since his arrest . The two killed were Officer Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson , both of whom received the honor of lying in state at the U.S. Capitol . ( Chestnut was the first African American to receive this honor. ) A female tourist suffered minor injuries after bullets grazed her shoulder and face . The location where one of the officers died and where the apprehension of the perpetrator occurred was in the office suite of Congressman Tom DeLay 's office . Many of Weston 's neighbors had disliked him , and often ignored him rather than communicate . They considered him to be unusual , and sometimes eccentric . Weston had once thought that his neighbor was using his television satellite dish to spy on his actions . He also believed that Navy SEALs were hiding in his cornfield . Two days prior to the Capitol shooting , at his grandmother 's insistence , Weston shot and killed his family 's 25 cats because they had fleas . Weston had also spent around 50 days in a mental hospital after threatening a Montana resident . He was released after testing as being of no danger to himself or anyone else . In 1999 , Weston was found incompetent to stand trial due to mental illness ( he was a schizophrenic who stopped taking his medication ) . A federal judge ordered that he be treated with antipsychotic medication without his consent in 2001 , and an appellate court upheld this decision . In 2004 , the court determined that Weston still was not competent to be tried , despite ongoing treatment , and suspended ( but did not dismiss ) the criminal charges against him . See also U.S. Capitol shooting incident ( 1954 ) Denis Lortie External Links Indictment of Russell Weston Jr. ( Capitol Shooter ) Forcible medication of mentally ill criminal defendants : the case of Russell Eugene Weston , Jr . Slain Capitol policemen praised as 'American heroes ' From the Shootings to the Investigation Washington Post archive . This biographical article related to crime is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . Categories : 1956 births | Living people | American murderers | Americans who have murdered police officers | Crime biography stubs This article describes one of two major shooting incidents that have taken place at the U.S. Capitol ; the other is described at U.S. Capitol shooting incident ( 1954 ) 