U.S. Capitol briefly evacuated after parachute demonstration plane deemed ‘probable threat’
The U.S. Capitol was briefly evacuated Wednesday night after police stated they had been monitoring an plane that posed “a possible risk,” however the airplane turned out to be a army plane with folks parachuting out of it for an illustration, officers instructed The Related Press.
The alert to evacuate the Capitol got here shortly after 6:30 p.m. native time.
The plane, a single-engine airplane, was reported to be circling round Washington after taking off from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, two folks aware of the matter. The folks stated the plane didn’t report taking off and didn’t have acceptable clearance. The folks weren’t licensed to debate the matter publicly and spoke to The Related Press on situation of anonymity.
The airplane was carrying members of the U.S. military’s parachute group, the Golden Knights, who then parachuted into the Washington Nationals’ baseball stadium for a pregame demonstration. Nationals Park is roughly one and a half kilometres away from the U.S. Capitol.
