Report Of Gunfire Causes Hill Lockdown

Rayburn Building Search Finds Nothing

U.S. Capitol Police, seen through a glass door, search the Rayburn House Office Building after a congressman reported hearing gunshots in the building's basement garage. The building was locked down for five hours. (By Jay Mallin -- Bloomberg News)

A report of possible gunshots in the parking garage of the Rayburn House Office Building yesterday prompted a massive response by law enforcement authorities, who locked down the 2.4 million-square-foot building next to the Capitol and conducted an extensive search that turned up nothing suspicious, officials said.

U.S. Capitol Police said late yesterday that they believe construction work inside the building caused noise that was mistaken for gunfire by a member of Congress and reported to police about 10:30 a.m. The report touched off about five hours of disruption in a building in which 168 House members have offices.

The concerns prompted the District to lock down public schools not just on Capitol Hill but throughout the city, said schools spokeswoman Leonie Campbell. Because school officials were unsure of the seriousness of the emergency, Campbell said, "we decided to err on the side of caution."

Throughout the day, authorities said they were not certain who reported the gunfire. Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) later revealed that he was the one who heard the sounds.

He said he heard what he "thought sounded like a 9mm handgun" when he stepped out of an elevator in the parking garage of the Rayburn building yesterday morning. "I dove back into the elevator, waited for the doors to close, pushed the button to go back to my floor" and returned to his office, where, he said, "I told my chief of staff to call the Capitol Police and tell them what I heard."

Describing himself as someone who "grew up with firearms" and has served 18 years on the Armed Services Committee, Saxton said, "I am very familiar with weapons."

He said in an interview last night from New Jersey that he later learned that the sounds "came from a pneumatic hammer."

Authorities reacted swiftly. In e-mail alerts, police ordered people to "shelter in place" or "quickly move into the nearest interior office space or interior hallway and away from windows." Scores of officers, many heavily armed, searched hundreds of rooms on the building's six floors, as well as three garage levels. Ambulances and firetrucks, including one labeled "mass casualty unit," were positioned on the street. At 3:18 p.m., an "all-clear" message was sent.

By then, the tension level among those locked inside had diminished considerably, replaced by hunger and a desire to get moving. At midday, in a third-story window of the Rayburn building, at Independence Avenue and First Street SW, a sign appeared: "HELP. SEND PIZZA NOW."

A woman who works for Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) was in the Rayburn building's gym when the lockdown began. She was taken to a hospital by ambulance, said Kingston's spokesman, David All, who described her as "just a little shaken up under the circumstances. . . . We have talked with our colleague, and she's doing well."

Capitol Police officers told D.C. police commanders within 30 minutes of the report that they thought construction workers probably made the noise, according to a D.C. police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because his department was not in charge of the search. Despite their doubts about a gunman in the building, Capitol Police felt they needed to search thoroughly out of an abundance of caution, he said.

"In doing their routine duties, [construction workers] made some sort of noise that sounded like shots fired," said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a Capitol Police spokeswoman, who described the report from Saxton's office as "a valid call."