Police reopen Senate office buildings after 911 call about possible active shooter

Authorities swept the Russell Senate Office building and the entrance from that facility into the U.S. Capitol for a possible active shooter on Wednesday.

All Senate buildings have since been reopened.

A 911 call with an unspecified security concern to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department triggered the Capitol Police response, a police source told Just the News. Congressional officials familiar with the matter confirmed the sweep to Just the News but did not elaborate.

Capitol Police confirmed that they had imposed a shelter-in-place order and were responding to a possible active shooter, but noted they had not confirmed any gunshots.

"If you are inside the Senate Buildings, everyone inside should be sheltering in place as the report was for a possible active shooter. It should be noted that we do not have any confirmed reports of gunshots," the force tweeted.

A Senate staffer told Just the News that Capitol Police entered the Russell building shortly before 3:00 p.m. with long guns and ordered personnel to evacuate.

A congressional official confirmed that authorities had cleared at least one building and discovered nothing, but expressed openness to the prospect that the disturbance may have been a swatting episode in which someone calls in a fake threat to deploy police.

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger later said the 911 call might have been a "bogus call."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.