Stabbing at USDA Shuts Down Building

A private contractor was stabbed during an altercation in the basement of the U.S. Department of Agriculture yesterday morning, leading authorities to shut down the building for about an hour as a security precaution, officials said.

The victim, a custodial worker whose identity was withheld by police, was wounded about 11 a.m. during an argument with another contractor in the basement of the USDA's south building at 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW, authorities said. He was hospitalized in stable condition with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening, officials said.

The alleged assailant fled after the stabbing, police said.

Officers with the Federal Protective Service, which provides security at many federal buildings, spoke to the assailant yesterday afternoon over the telephone, said Dennis O'Connor, chief of staff for the agency. O'Connor declined to identify the suspect or describe the nature of officers' conversations with him. He said that the man had not been charged.

The men worked for the same private contractor, officials said.

"This wasn't a random act," O'Connor said.

Shortly after the stabbing, officials at the Agriculture department shut down the building to give officers time to search for the suspect.

Officials eventually sent out an e-mail with details about what happened. But some employees and visitors said they were not told why the lockdown was ordered.

Misty Falcon, a USDA employee who works in Oregon, was in the building for training. She said she did not know about the stabbing until she tried to leave. Officials kept her in the building for about an hour, she said.

"For a federal building, you wouldn't think this was possible," Falcon said.