U.S. Capitol Briefly Locked Down Amid Reports Of Woman With Gun

The lockdown was lifted after half an hour.
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WASHINGTON ― With the nation on edge after the shooting of police officers in Dallas, the U.S. Capitol was locked down for half an hour Friday morning amid reports that a woman had a gun.

An announcement over the public address system shortly after 9 a.m. told people to take shelter in the Capitol building and the visitor center. Congress immediately recessed.

A Democratic aide told The Huffington Post that a woman attempted to enter the Rayburn House Office Building with what appeared to be a gun. At least one lawmaker told a reporter that the person who was stopped was a staffer.

The all-clear was announced at 9:37 a.m., and legislative work was set to resume.

A Capitol Police spokeswoman released an explanatory statement Friday afternoon. It said that the lockdown was ordered at 8:42 a.m. after police identified what appeared to be a weapon in the backpack of a staffer headed through a checkpoint going from Rayburn to the House side of the Capitol.

The lockdown did not take effect, however, until 9:02 a.m. It was unclear why there was a 20-minute delay.

Fortunately, there turned out to be no weapon.

“Upon further investigation, [Capitol Police] officers determined that the item was not a threat to the Congressional community, and the lockdown was lifted and normal operations were restored,” the statement said.

This story has been updated with a statement from the Capitol Police.

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