The 1954 Capitol attack was a rare act of armed political violence inside the U.S. Congress, wounding five Representatives and drawing attention to Puerto Rican independence.
Key Facts
- Date
- March 1, 1954
- Rounds fired
- 30 rounds
- Representatives wounded
- 5 people
- Attackers
- Lebrón, Cancel Miranda, Figueroa Cordero, Flores Rodríguez
- Sentences commuted by
- President Jimmy Carter, 1978–1979
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Four Puerto Rican nationalists sought to draw international attention to their cause of Puerto Rican independence from the United States. Motivated by political activism within the nationalist movement, they planned an armed demonstration targeting the U.S. Congress during an active legislative session.
On March 1, 1954, Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero, and Irvin Flores Rodríguez entered the Ladies' Gallery of the House of Representatives chamber. They unfurled a Puerto Rican flag and fired 30 rounds from semi-automatic pistols onto the floor below, where members of the 83rd Congress were debating an immigration bill.
Five Representatives were wounded, though all recovered. The four attackers were arrested, tried in two federal courts, convicted, and sentenced to terms amounting to life imprisonment. President Jimmy Carter commuted all four sentences in 1978 and 1979, after which all returned to Puerto Rico.