Man in pickup truck near US Capitol claims he has a bomb

A man sitting in a black truck parked on the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress told police he had a bomb Thursday, triggering a standoff in the heart of the nation’s capital.

Officials evacuated a number of buildings around the Capitol and sent snipers to the area after officers saw the man holding what looked like a detonator inside the pickup, which had no license plates. Congress is in recess this week, but staffers were seen calmly walking out of the area at the direction of authorities.

Police negotiators were communicating with him as he wrote notes and showed them to authorities from inside the truck, according to three people who were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. They were trying to determine whether it was an operable bomb, the officials said.

“My negotiators are hard at work trying to have a peaceful resolution to this incident,” U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said. “We’re trying to get as much information as we can to find a way to peacefully resolve this.”

Earlier, the US Capitol Police, on Thursday, issued an active bomb threat investigation after the suspicious vehicle was found parked near the Library of Congress.

The Capitol Police further warned the public to stay away from this area.

People at the Cannon House Office Building were asked to leave that building and relocate to the Longworth House Office Building.

The Congress is on recess this week. However, the Capitol Police have evacuated congressional offices nearby, encouraging people to remain calm and use the underground tunnels if necessary to leave the area, The Associated Press reported. The Supreme Court is close to the Capitol too. 

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The law enforcement officials said investigators on the scene were working to determine whether the device was an operable explosive and whether the man in the truck was holding a detonator. Police were sending snipers to the scene, according to the officials.

The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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The area was blocked off by police cars and barricades, and multiple fire trucks and ambulances were staged nearby. Also responding were the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police, FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The White House said it was monitoring the situation and was being briefed by law enforcement.

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The incident comes months after a pipe bomb was left at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee in Washington a day before thousands of pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol in January.

With inputs from the Associated Press