Chaos in the Capitol

From CBSNews.com
Necessary precaution, or overkill? Read on, and decide for yourself.

(CBS/AP) A phone call reporting gunfire — apparently a false alarm — led police to briefly shut down the Capitol Friday and search the largest House office building floor by floor as staff members and a few lawmakers were kept inside.

Officers with rifles stood by outside, and ambulances arrived. But in the end police said there were no arrests, injuries or confirmation of the gunfire report that had been called in by an unidentified congressional employee.

The report originated with Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J., his press secretary said. Saxton heard what he thought were gunshots and had a member of his staff call Capitol Police, said spokesman Greg Keeley.

CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart reports that a hammer was mistaken for the sound of gunfire.

A woman stepped off an elevator in the basement garage of the Rayburn Building and heard what she thought was gunfire, Stewart reports. What she did not know was that the elevator next to her was under repair and a maintenance man was on its roof whacking away with a hammer.

"FBI and Capitol Hill police have duplicated the sound and believe that's what she heard," reports Stewart. ...

On high alert, police lined the street between the Capitol and the Rayburn building, rifles prominently displayed, and four ambulances, two firetrucks and other emergency vehicles were on the scene. Police methodically searched the sprawling building, where congressional staff members had locked themselves into their offices as a precaution. ...

The search was a complicated one. The building, which covers a long city block, is connected to a second office building by an underground tunnel. That building, in turn, is connected to the Capitol by a second underground tunnel.

Nearly two hours after the first alert, Capitol police sent an e-mail message to occupants of the office building saying they would soon begin a floor-by-floor search.

"During the search, the police officers will knock three times on each office door, announce 'United States Capitol Police,' knock three additional times," and then confirm their identity by speaking a code word, it said. ...

Cathy Travis, a spokeswoman for Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, was in his fourth-floor office at 1 p.m. when "four or five really huge, burly young cops did a boom, boom, boom on the front door and walked in."

She said they told her and others to stay where they were and stay out of the way for a search that she said didn't seem to take more than a minute as they checked IDs and all parts of the office.

Steven Broderick, press spokesman for Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., was in his car in the Rayburn garage Friday morning getting ready to drive his boss to the airport, when he was ordered by a Capitol Police officer to park the car and put his hands on the steering wheel. The officer then told him to run toward an exit where other officers where gathered.

"He just told me to run and don't look back," Broderick said.

An Associated Press reporter heard noise outside a Rayburn press room and peeked out the door. A police officer, gun drawn, shouted, "Get in the room. Get in the room... ."

Was it putting on a show? Over-reacting? Or were Capitol Police performing to the highest call of duty?

I commend them for the way they risk their lives day in and day out in the line of duty. But come on, a hammer? Really? I wasn't there, but I can't imagine a hammer making a sound that could be mistaken for gunfire.

What about you? Let me know what you think.

Joe