‘Sound of Gunfire’ on Hill
Obviously, anytime there are reports of [tag]gunfire[/tag] in or around Congress, there’s reason to be concerned. Given what we know now, however, this morning’s incident was, fortunately, not a big deal.
[tag]Capitol Police[/tag] said Friday they were investigating reports of sounds of gunfire in the garage of the Rayburn Office Building, where members of the House have their offices.
Law enforcement expert Mike Brooks said he had not heard any reports of victims or physical evidence of gunfire.
There’s a lot of activity — police, FBI, ambulances, etc. — but this appears to be largely precautionary. The Capitol Police received one phone call at 10:30 from someone reporting possible [tag]gun shots[/tag], which prompted a full-scale search. There have been no reported injuries.
The [tag]Rayburn[/tag] [tag]House[/tag] Office Building, one of the three buildings along the south side of the Capitol, has been locked down. Hill staffers have been asked to stay in their offices, but the [tag]Capitol[/tag] building remains open, and [tag]Senate[/tag] has not been interrupted.
It’s also worth noting that the Capitol Police have a [tag]firing range[/tag] in the garage levels of the Rayburn building, though the sounds reportedly came from a different level.
At this point, everything appears to be under control. I contacted a few people I know, and one Capitol Hill aide told me, “This is typical. The Capitol Police are like the cops on the Simpsons and we have bunch of Kent Brockman TV media types cheering on their incompetence.”
Once Hill staffers are comfortable making Simpsons jokes, I think it’s safe to say the crisis has passed.
Damn. I was 1/2 hoping it was Hastert defending his office from the FBI
We know Jabba the Hastert is hoarding a stash of donuts in there. We’re going to get them sooner or later, with or without a warrant.
“You’ll never take me alive, Copper!” - Denny Hastert
Damn neighbor kids and their Black Cats
Until the last few years, I never to be paranoid, but according to reports, “law enforcement” is going from office to office, armed to the teeth, searching the building. Just yesterday, folks in Congress were up in arms about a search of a congressional office. If someone wanted to make it crystal clear who’s in charge… coincidence? Just a thought.
Anyone want to venture a guess as to whether we’ll ever know who made that call to the police?
beep52’s got something there,
We used to have “Health and Welfare Inspections” in the Army, in which they waited until we were out of the barracks, then the company CO and first sergeant would literally lock us out of the building while they searched our rooms for contraband. Then they would order everyone with a vehicle to surrender their keys so that our cars would get searched.
Call me paranoid, but the next move is for Darth Cheney to lead the Clone Troopers into Congress and “cleanse” it.
What’s with this Rayburn office building anwyay?
Named for Sam Rayburn?
Wasn’t he a game-show host?
Interesting view of yesterday’s events from The Left Coaster blog:
Was The Rayburn Building a Distraction?
by pessimist
“The Wall Street Journal has published today an article that implies that King George is seeking to make peace with the Congress Critters over the FBI raid into the Congressional office of Louisiana Representative William Jefferson, which just happens to be in the Rayburn Building.
“My guess is, considering that George ordered a ‘freeze’ on the already confiscated documents [WSJ], the olive branch was merely intended to allow the Congress Critters to again pay attention to their daily activities while the White House covert operatives planned to return to Rayburn to get everything they could from every [Democratic] office they had an interest in without interruption. They must have found something of interest in Jefferson’s files, and wanted to get everything on those so implicated without going through legal channels. . . .”
I’m sure it was all a coincidence.