The United States Capitol was shut down briefly on Monday after a man was arrested for racing past security into the building, Capitol police said.
The suspect breached security with his car first and then got out and ran past guards into the building, Sergeant Kimberly Schneider said.
He was captured just inside the building. The building was closed for a search but it was opened within an hour, the police said.
The congressional day had barely begun when the man was arrested and it appeared there were no members of Congress in the building at the time.
There have been a string of security alerts involving evacuations of the Capitol and various surrounding office buildings since the September 11 attacks five years ago.
Monday’s incident occurred near a construction site for the new visitors’ centre being built at the Capitol, Schneider said.
The man’s vehicle was being searched for anything suspicious, she said.
Capitol police also searched room by room, hallway by hallway, Eric Ueland, chief of staff for Republican Senate leader Senator Bill Frist, told CNN.
”This individual was apprehended before he could get his way too far in the Capitol and if he intended to do any damage, not be able to follow through on that,” Ueland said.
A congressional aide said she had received an email from the Capitol police saying the Capitol building was in ”lock down” because of a security breach and that no one would be allowed access to the building pending a security sweep. — Reuters