US News
All-clear given after gun scare near US Capitol
May 27, 2006, 0:33 GMT
Washington - Police gave the all-clear Friday afternoon after searching a legislative office building next to the US Capitol for hours following a report of gunfire in the garage, police said.
About five hours after the initial report of gunfire, which came from a single phone call, police declared the Rayburn House Office Building open for business again.
Officers, some armed with automatic weapons, had combed the building for hours and gone 'door to door, floor by floor,' according to Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider.
After sealing off the building across the street from the Capitol, police went in to identify and question everyone inside before letting them, she said.
An ambulance took away a woman who suffered a panic attack, she said.
Police cars clogged the hilly streets around the Capitol and ambulances stood ready as a precaution outside the Rayburn building, which has four floors, two basements and three levels of underground garage space.
The US Senate, which occupies the other side of the Capitol building in Washington, remained in session during the alert.
In February, several US senators and hundreds of Senate employees were sequestered for about three hours in another office building's underground garage after a nerve-agent alert. It turned out to be a false alarm.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Frank MurrayMay 27th, 2006 - 14:49:04
Which came at the time Blair and Bush were giving an extremely embarrassing climb-down on the invasion of Iraq and their failure to find WMD's (Try DIMONA mate!) to the words press.
I think I smell a red herring, a smokescreen.
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