Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., was attacked Thursday morning in the elevator of her Washington, D.C., apartment building, her office said in a statement.
"Rep. Craig defended herself from the attacker and suffered bruising, but is otherwise physically okay," chief of staff Nick Coe said. Coe said the assailant fled, and there was no evidence the attack was politically motivated.
The Metropolitan Police Department later arrested Kendrick Hamlin, 26, and charged him with simple assault.
Craig spotted the suspect in her building's lobby, "acting erratic as if he was under the influence of an unknown substance," according to a Metropolitan Police Department report detailing the attack.
He then entered the elevator with her and began doing pushups before punching her in the chin and grabbing her neck, police said. According to the police report, she told police she threw her hot coffee at him before he escaped.
In a statement later Thursday, the U.S. Capitol Police said it is also investigating the attack, but that "there is no indication that the congresswoman was targeted because of her position."
Elected in 2018, Craig is the first openly LGBTQ member of Congress from Minnesota.
Members of Congress experienced an increase in threats of violence after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, leading lawmakers to plead with leadership for more funding for personal security. The number of threat investigations decreased last year, but U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said in January that the rate was "still too high."
