'False Alarm' Over Suspected Aircraft Threat Forces Brief US Capitol Evacuation

The United States Capitol was briefly evacuated after the police warned of an aircraft posing a possible threat.

The United States Capitol was briefly evacuated on Wednesday, 20 April, after the police warned of an aircraft posing a possible threat to the meeting place of the US Congress.

(Photo: iStock)

The United States Capitol was briefly evacuated on Wednesday, 20 April, after the police warned of an aircraft posing a possible threat to the meeting place of the US Congress.

However, it turned out to be a false alarm, and it was found that the suspected aircraft was carrying parachutists as part of a baseball pregame show, officials told news agency AP.

"The Capitol was evacuated out of an abundance of caution this evening. There is no threat at the Capitol. The Congressional buildings are now open for staff to go back inside. Our federal, state, and local partners are still working to get more information," the US Capitol Police said, soon after the evacuation.

The Capitol Police had earlier said that it was "tracking an aircraft that poses a probable threat".

Neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate, whose proceedings are conducted in the Capitol, were in session at the time of the evacuation, as per US media reports.

In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the Capitol was evacuated due to the Federal Aviation Administration's "apparent failure to notify US Capitol Police of pre-planned activities," and called for a review to determine what precisely went wrong, reported NBC.

The US Capitol's warning had created a sense of wariness in the country, carrying a reminder of the 11 September 2001 attacks when terror organisation Al-Qaeda had flown passenger jets into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.