Washington,DC – Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) announced today that Mrs. Wen-Ling Chestnut, who is a constituent of the Fifth District, will be his guest at tomorrow night’s State of the Union address.
“I’m pleased to be bringing Mrs. Chestnut as my guest to the President’s State of the Union address,” said Congressman Hoyer. “As the widow of a law enforcement officer who lost his life when a deranged gunman attacked the U.S. Capitol seventeen years ago, she represents the thousands of families in Maryland and across our nation who have been painfully impacted by gun violence. On that tragic day in 1998, Officer Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson gave their lives to protect the institutions of American democracy, and Congress has a responsibility to do right by them and all other victims of gun violence – and their families – by answering President Obama’s call to strengthen our gun safety laws without delay.”
Mrs. Chestnut’s husband, Jacob Joseph Chestnut, was a U.S. Capitol Police officer murdered in the line of duty in 1998. Officer Chestnut and Detective John M. Gibson, both 18-year veterans of the force, were killed when a mentally ill gunman opened fire at a security checkpoint in the Capitol on July 24, 1998.