William “Billy” Evans, the police officer who died in the line of duty from the car attack at the Capitol on Friday, will lie in honor in the Rotunda next week.
Evans will lie in honor on April 13 Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced.
“The United States Congress joins all Americans in mourning the tragic death of one of our Capitol Police heroes, Officer Billy Evans,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement. “In giving his life to protect our Capitol and our Country, Officer Evans became a martyr for our democracy. On behalf of the entire Congress, we are profoundly grateful.”
Evans served in the Capitol Police force for 18 years and was the father of two children. There will be a tribute ceremony shortly after his remains arrive at the Capitol next Tuesday, followed by a viewing period for fellow members of the the Capitol Police and members of Congress.
Evans will be the second Capitol Police officer to lie in honor this year. Congressional leaders gave the same tribute to Brian Sicknick, the Capitol Police officer who died after engaging with members of the violent mob of former President Trump’s supporters during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Private citizens are granted the distinction of lying in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, while military leaders and government officials lie in state. Evans will be only the sixth person in U.S. history to lay in honor, following Sicknick; Capitol Police Officer Jacob Chestnut and detective John Gibson, who died in the line of duty from the July 1998 shooting in the Capitol; civil rights icon Rosa Parks in 2005; and the Rev. Billy Graham in 2018.
Evans was killed after the suspect in Friday’s attack, Noah Green, rammed his car into him and another Capitol Police officer stationed at a security checkpoint along the fence lining the Senate side of the Capitol before crashing into a barricade.
Green then exited his vehicle with a large knife and lunged toward another Capitol Police officer, who then fatally shot him.
The other Capitol Police officer hit by Green’s car was injured but has since left the hospital.