The arrest of Lolita Lebrón after she and three other Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire at congressmen inside the House of Representatives chamber of the United States Capitol Building. March 1st, 1954.

The arrest of Lolita Lebrón after she and three other Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire at congressmen inside the House of Representatives chamber of the United States Capitol Building. March 1st, 1954.

Before firing semi-automatic handguns from the visitor viewing balcony at congressmen who were debating an immigration bill, Lebrón and her fellow nationalists unfurled a Puerto Rican flag and hung it from the balcony for all of the representatives to see. The intent of the attack was to promote the cause of Puerto Rican independence from the United States.

The four shooters went on to injure Alvin Morrell Bentley III of Michigan, Ben F. Jensen of Iowa, Clifford Davis of Tennessee, George Fallon of Maryland, and Kenneth Roberts of Alabama. However, all five congressmen survived their injuries and no one else was hurt or killed.

For the attack, Lebrón and the other nationalists - Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andrés Figueroa Cordero, and Irvin Flores Rodríguez - were arrested, tried successively in two federal courts and convicted on various charges including attempted murder. All received long consecutive sentences amounting to life imprisonment.

Cordero was released in 1978 for health reasons after serving a 24 year sentence. He died less than one year later from cancer.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter officially  commuted the sentences of the remaining three perpetrators. The freed nationalists were received in Puerto Rico with a "heroes' welcome" by roughly 5,000 people at San Juan International Airport.

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