1954 United States Capitol shooting

They fired 30 rounds from semi-automatic pistols onto the legislative floor from the Ladies' Gallery (a balcony for visitors) of the House of Representatives chamber within the United States Capitol.The nationalists, identified as Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero, and Irvin Flores Rodríguez, unfurled a Puerto Rican flag and began shooting at Representatives in the 83rd Congress, who were debating an immigration bill.The people could elect their own governor, from the ruling PPD party; a bicameral legislature was established, and executive functions similar to those of American states were developed.The Nationalist president, Pedro Albizu Campos, ordered armed uprisings on October 30, 1950, in several towns, including Peñuelas, Mayagüez, Naranjito, Arecibo and Ponce.In the early 1950s, Don Pedro Albizu Campos, president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, had been corresponding from his prison with 34-year-old Lolita Lebrón.In 1954, a group of Nationalists, which included Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irvin Flores and Andrés Figueroa Cordero, decided to focus the world's attention on Puerto Rico's status, which they considered as a colony of the U.S.When Lebrón's group reached the visitor's gallery above the House chamber, they sat while the representatives discussed the Mexican economy and issues of immigration.Wounded were Alvin Morell Bentley (R-Michigan), who took a bullet to the chest, Clifford Davis (D-Tennessee), hit in the leg, Ben F. Jensen (R-Iowa), shot in the back, as well as George Hyde Fallon (D-Maryland) and Kenneth A. Roberts (D-Alabama).The next morning in Puerto Rico, the Insular Police raided the home of Pedro Albizu Campos, president of the Nationalist Party, with guns and tear gas.[16] The FBI reports on Albizu Campos and the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party ultimately exceeded over one million pages in length.[16] The Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Muñoz Marín, revoked Albizu's pardon, and had the political leader returned to La Princesa prison, from which he had been released only six months before.[19] Ruth Mary Reynolds helped secure the services of noted activist attorney Conrad Lynn as a lawyer for Lebrón and the other three co-defendants.They declared themselves not guilty on the charge of "trying to overthrow the government of the United States," but remained firm in demanding independence for Puerto Rico.[28] The four were sent to different prisons: Figueroa Cordero to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta; Lebrón to the women's prison in Alderson, West Virginia; Cancel Miranda to Alcatraz, in San Francisco Bay; and Flores Rodriguez to Leavenworth, Kansas, where Oscar Collazo was incarcerated following his involvement in the attempted assassination of President Harry S Truman in 1950.[2] Some analysts said this was in exchange for Fidel Castro's release of several American CIA agents being held in Cuba on espionage charges, but the US said that was not the case.