US Capitol evacuated after Army parachute demo at baseball field | USA TODAY

The U.S. Capitol was evacuated after police identified an aircraft carrying Army parachuters as a "possible threat."

RELATED: Asian American Army veteran bares scars, addresses hate at Ohio board meeting

The U.S. Capitol was briefly evacuated Wednesday evening after police identified an aircraft that they said posed “a probable threat” — but the plane was actually carrying members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights, who then parachuted into Nationals Park for a pregame demonstration.

The alert from the U.S. Capitol Police sent congressional staffers fleeing from the Capitol and legislative building around 6:30 p.m. ET.

The incident suggested a stunning communications failure between the military and the Capitol Police, all the more remarkable because of Washington’s focus on improving security since the January 6, 2021, attack on the building by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

» Subscribe to USA TODAY:
» Watch more on this and other topics from USA TODAY:
» USA TODAY delivers current local and national news, sports, entertainment, finance, technology, and more through award-winning journalism, photos, videos and VR.

#washingtondc #washingtonnationals #nancypelosi

49 comments

  1. How much you figure that cost the tax payer? Whom do we fire for this? Oh that’s right, the American people dont have that kind of power anymore…

  2. This certainly doesn’t make our capital look very prepared if such an event was to occur. I mean one U.S. military fly over causes an evacuation. Come on man.

    1. They never tell all the details in these short “news” stories. So we can’t really make an informed opinion.

    2. Sure was a packed stadium for a military run like that. From the looks of it there wasn’t enough paying patrons there to cover the fuel cost to drop them in even if 100% of the funds went that way

  3. Tells you how much our leaders know what is going on if they didn’t even know what their own Army was doing.

    1. @unlisted junk 🤣 true i bet grandma Nancy and grandpa McConnell thought it was putin wearing a parachute! or joe rogan! or tucker carlson! 🤣

    2. Capitol Police should have been notified that this event was going to take place ahead of time. Come on, people. Under the circumstances, it was the smart thing to do to evacuate the Capitol because you just don’t know these days who and when may attack.

  4. I don’t think you have enough time to evacuate when Russia send something over. And it sure won’t come down on a parachute

  5. We have all of the technology in the world but–still yet–we can’t communicate a damn thing. This is embarrassing.

    1. I’ll bet it was posted in the FAA’s NOTAMs as it was supposed too. The capital police just failed to check.

  6. Speaks volumes as to what our intel actually knows! Obviously they fear an invasion of sorts or an evac would NOT have been their first reaction.

  7. 1. as a pilot, that airspace never changes. 2. hahahaha for the govt to not know that this was going on. you would think that some security agency would give a head up like ‘hey, were gonna have some parachute team from the army flying over head’.

    1. Former infantry here, no surprise at the lack of communication, hell sometimes we couldn’t talk to the vic next to us over comms and had to get out under fire just to figure things out.

    2. I thought that if someone violated airspace over the Capitol, that fighter jets would be immediately scrambled? Did this not happen, or did the jets scramble and they go “oh, that’s one of our army planes.” and then go “hey army plane, wtf are you doing here?” and the army plane would go “uh, guys, this was scheduled?” … but apparently this didn’t happen?

    1. PTSD? From what? People roaming the Capitol? Only a few people died one from violence by a Capitol police that got scared over a woman kicking a door, and others died from other complications.

    2. @Black McBain you are correct it’s not funny, it’s fkn hilarious 😂😆😂😆😂😆

    1. That’s very hyperbolic. Capitol Police are not “in charge of this country,” only of Capitol Hill security. The US Army is also not “in charge of this country”, just their own soldiers. The Secret Service, who followed procedure & evacuated until the aircraft was ID’d, are also “not in charge of this country”. Congress is partially “in charge of this country”, but NOT of Capitol Police day-to-day plans or operational procedures, because they’re not law enforcement. Capitol PD is run by a board (Both sergeants at arms+ the chief+ Capitol architect). There was clearly a severe communication breakdown between the 3, that never should’ve happened, but everyone is ok. There will be an investigation in each organization, lessons will be learned & procedures will be changed &/ or those involved will face disciplinary actions.

  8. It’s outrageous and inexcusable that I/we all have aircraft flying over our houses taking pictures then posting it online.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.