Authorities say they found no evidence of gunshots after a 911 caller claimed there was a possible active shooter in the Russell Senate Office Building at the U.S. Capitol complex.
Washington Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Hugh Carew said, “A call came in for an active shooter. It appears to be a bad call. No injuries and no shooter were located,” after reports triggered a lockdown and search.
Earlier, U.S. Capitol Police urged people inside Senate office buildings to shelter in place shortly before 3 p.m., saying officers were “searching in and around the Senate Office Buildings in response to a concerning 911 call.”
Staffers could be seen emerging from the Dirksen Senate Office Building with their hands up despite instructions to people inside to shelter in place because the report had been about a “possible active shooter.”
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said the caller claimed there was an active shooter at the Hart Senate Office Building, and officers cleared that and two others.
“We’ve found nothing concerning, nobody that actually heard shots, and certainly no victims,” Manger said. “This may have been a bogus call.”
Manger said the original call, which D.C. police received around 2:30 p.m., described a “heavy-set Hispanic male wearing body armor” but investigators had not been able to get back in touch with the person who placed that call.
The legislative staff of New Jersey’s U.S. Senators, Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, is headquartered at the Hart Senate Office Building.