AP News Alert:
WASHINGTON (AP) Police report shots have been fired at the Rayburn House office building.More on this as it comes in...
UPDATE: From the AP:
Police sealed off the Capitol on Friday after receiving reports of gunfire in a House office building across the street.Now I'm hearing that the entire Capitol has been sealed off.
Capitol police are investigating "the sound of gunfire in the garage level of the Rayburn House Office Building," said an announcement on the internal Capitol voice alarm system.
UPDATE 2: AP News Alert:
WASHINGTON (AP) Four ambulances arrive at House office building following reports of gunfire.However, I heard on WLW that this may have been the result of some contracters having dropped some pipes, but that is unconfirmed.
Mark's 12:16pm Update
The reporters have now turned on the cops. At the press briefing, they peppered the spokesperson with questions of overreaction and jumping to conclusions. The press Liasion, Kim Fletcher (I think that is her name) related that at 10:30 am, a call came into the Capitol Police of possible shots fired in the Rayburn Building. Several tactical units and forces were sent into the building and staffers were told to stay in their offices and await further instructions. Ambulances were brought in as a precaution, and a search is underway for the possible gunman and/or victims. They are investigating the possibility of the firing range being the cause.
So, the reporters jump into overdrive, asking repeatedly: anyone caught? any suspects? any hurt? The officer answers the same questions six times. Then, they begin to ask if the police are overreacting. They begin to ask if the police are being competent in taking this call seriously. HELLO! Let's go back to the way back machine, to about 1998. Remember the crackpot who got in and killed people? Better yet, let's go back to 1993, the WTC...remember that? Or, 2001? September 11? HELLO! I am outraged at the level of stupidity and arrogance and lack of understanding by the reporters. If one of them got capped by a possible suspect, they would say the police aren't doing enough. But, of course, we have to make law enforcement and any response to terror look like overreacting, because, you know, the global warming/cooling/climate change is much more a threat than Usama blowing you up....uh, yeah...believe that....
Mark's 1:30 PM Update
Just finished listening to the briefing by Kimberly Schneider, the public affairs officer. As you may have figured, they are searching the building and it appears they are trying to scale some things down. However, as usual, the reporters only care about the soundbite. Again, they repeatedly tried to make it look as if Sgt. Schneider was intentionally lying about whether there was a suspect. They tried to put Sgt. Schneider into an untenable situation, getting her to reveal tactical information. As of now, the only thing that is known is that there was a report at 10:30am that shots were fired at the Rayburn building. Two people have been removed from the building on gurneys, neither from gunshot wounds. One is a staffer for Jack Kingston of Georgia, and she was overcome with an anxiety related attack. The other injury is a police officer that suffered an ankle injury in the situation.
As usual, the reporters are doing their best to give al Queda a tutorial on how we respond to tactical situations. You would think, but wait, I forgot, these are lefty lib reporters who have no common sense. Common sense would tell you that you cannot reveal tactics over the TV, that al Queda is watcthing. Of course, this does not stop the media from asking such insipid and stupid questions. They wanted to know how the building was being searched, what floors were clear, etc. Don't they realize that a gunman in the building could pick up FoxNews or CNN on the TVS there? Don't they realize al Queda is watching and trying to learn? Of course not, because it is all about them. You know, one of the committees that was caught in this lockdown was dealing with media leaks of classified information. I think we need to look at what is taught to journalists and ethics of journalists in relation to national security. The attitude of the media toward Sgt. Schneider is absolutely disgusting, and I hope it shows more people that the media in this country is not providing a service to us, but more of a service to our enemies. Stay tuned for further developments and commentary.....
