Ultimately much of the crowd, some carrying laptops and tangled handfuls of charging cords and headphones, ended up in a park near the building, calling family members and figuring out how to get home.
The threat unsettled visitors and employees at the Capitol, eight months after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Hill on Jan. 6, in a violent attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the presidential election.
After the Jan. 6 riot and the death of a Capitol Hill officer in early April, even the precautionary steps to investigate suspicious packages have become more intense for staff on the Hill, amid heightened security precautions.
Employees in the Madison building were notified of the possible threat through alerts, before officials came over the building intercom to instruct people to leave the building.
Once on the street, employees were told to go home or head away from the complex, although some could not reach their cars and the nearest Metro stop appeared closed.
“They’re just being cautious — they don’t want to take chances,” said Paul Hines, a building services employee evacuated from Madison. Mr. Hines, livestreaming a news report on his phone, had left his phone charger, his lunch and most of his belongings inside.
“Wasn’t expecting this,” he added. “I was about to eat my lunch.”
Adam Goldman, Glenn Thrush and Nicholas Fandos contributed reporting.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/us/library-of-congress-evacuation.html
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