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Lawmakers are vowing an investigation into how law enforcement handled Wednesday鈥檚 violent breach at the United States Capitol, questioning whether聽a lack of preparedness allowed a mob to occupy and vandalize the building.

U.S. Capitol Police, who are charged with protecting Congress, turned to other law enforcement for help with the mob that overwhelmed the complex and sent聽lawmakers into hiding. Both law enforcement and Trump supporters deployed chemical irritants during the hours-long occupation of the complex before it was聽cleared Wednesday evening.

Four people died, one of them a woman who was shot and killed by police inside the Capitol. Three other people died after suffering 鈥渕edical emergencies鈥澛爎elated to the breach, said Robert Contee, chief of the city鈥檚 Metropolitan Police Department.

Police said 52 people were arrested as of Wednesday night, including 26 on the Capitol grounds. Fourteen police officers were injured, Mr. Contee said.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., chairwoman of the House Administration Committee, said the breach 鈥渞aises grave security concerns,鈥� adding that her committee聽will work with House and Senate leaders to review the police response 鈥� and its preparedness.

Lawmakers crouched under desks and donned gas masks while police futilely tried to barricade the building when people marched to the Capitol from a rally聽near the White House in support of President Donald Trump. Washington鈥檚 mayor instituted an evening curfew in an attempt to contain the violence.

Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., a former police chief, said it was 鈥減ainfully obvious鈥� that Capitol police 鈥渨ere not prepared for today. I certainly thought聽that we would have had a stronger show of force, that there would have been steps taken in the very beginning to make sure that there was a designated聽area for the protesters in a safe distance from the Capitol.鈥欌��

In an interview with MSNBC Wednesday night, Ms. Demings said it appeared police were woefully understaffed, adding that 鈥渋t did not seem that they had a clear聽operational plan to really deal with鈥� thousands of protesters who descended on the Capitol following Mr. Trump鈥檚 complaints of a 鈥渞igged election.鈥欌��

Law enforcement experts, , said they were mystified by the tactics that police used once the mob was already inside the Capitol.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 like watching a real-life horror movie. I mean, we train and plan and budget every day, basically, to have this not happen,鈥� said Kim Dine, who was chief of the Capitol Police from 2012 to 2016, to The Washington Post. 鈥淗ow it happened, I can鈥檛 figure that out.鈥�

鈥淲e protect the people, the place, and the process that makes us the United States. That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e there,鈥� Mr. Dine said to , expressing surprise that the Capitol Police had allowed rioters to gather on the Capitol steps and were not immediately arrested once entering the building. 鈥淭he people, the place, the process 鈥� all were attacked,鈥� he said.

The rioters were egged on by Mr. Trump, who has spent weeks falsely attacking the integrity of the election and had urged his supporters to come to Washington聽to protest Congress鈥� formal approval of President-elect Joe Biden鈥檚 victory. The protests interrupted those proceedings for nearly seven hours.

Very few people were arrested for the breach, one person said, because officers didn鈥檛 have enough backup to take the time to arrest and detain them.

鈥淭here just weren鈥檛 enough personnel to do everything,鈥� one law enforcement official briefed on the episode said.

The mob eventually entered both the Senate and House chambers and vandalized offices of lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.聽The Capitol Police, outnumbered, focused on helping lawmakers to safety and removing protesters, according to two people familiar with the incident, . Outside the Capitol building, D.C. police removed protesters from the external stairs, porticos, and balconies of the Capitol.

Ms. Demings said there were 鈥渁 lot of unanswered questions and I鈥檓 damn determined to get answers to those questions about what went wrong today.鈥�

A police spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment late Wednesday.

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., said she was outraged to see accounts on social media of a Capitol Police officer posing for a photo with a protester. 鈥淲ould聽you take a selfie with someone who was robbing a bank?鈥� she asked. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 imagine if a couple of thousand of [Black Lives Matters] protesters had descended聽on the Capitol ... that there would be 13 people arrested.鈥�

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, suggested there could be leadership changes at the Capitol police.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 pretty clear that there鈥檚 going to be a number of people who are going to be without employment very, very soon because this is an embarrassment聽both on behalf of the mob, and the president, and the insurrection, and the attempted coup, but also the lack of professional planning and dealing with聽what we knew was going to occur,鈥� Mr. Ryan said.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽AP writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.