Washington: Police sealed off the US Capitol on Friday as they investigated reports that shots were fired in the garage of a House of Representatives office building. Four ambulances were summoned.
Law enforcement expert Mike Brooks said he had not heard any reports of victims or physical evidence of gunfire.
He noted that Capitol Police have a firing range in the basement, but a congressional source said the shots were not heard from that level. The Senate was in session at the time, but the House was not.
Business continued as usual on the Senate side, CNN's Dana Bash said.
The Containment and Emergency Response Team was searching the area, Brooks said. CNN's Kelli Arena reported that heavily armed officers were headed to the area.
The alert came moments after a press conference held by Rep. John Sensenbrenner on immigration reform, CNN producer Deidre Walsh said.
"We saw several Capitol Hill police officers running quickly down the hallway," she said. Soon after that an announcement was made throughout the building.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Michigan, was conducting a House Intelligence Committee hearing at the time.
Hoekstra interrupted a witness to tell those at the hearing to remain in the room and said doors must be closed.
"It's a little unsettling to get a Blackberry message put in front of you that says there's gunfire in the building," he said.
"They said they heard gunfire in the Rayburn garage, but this is a huge building, I'm guessing it's a car backfiring or balloons popping," Gene Smith, chief of staff to Rep. Howard Berman, D-California, told The Associated Press. Berman has an office in Rayburn.
Comments
0 comment