In typical legislative fashion, there was a lot of noise and a lot of drama but in the end (gladly) not a whole lot of substance on the north side of the state Capitol today.
Some time after 9 a.m., someone alerted Capitol authorities to two suspicious packages near the Capitol’s north entrance. One bag, apparently containing clothes, was hanging on a statue. Another more nefarious looking leather bag with some sort of metal object protruding sat not far away.
The CHP and sergeant-at-arms began evacuating offices in the Capitol’s north wing. An Assembly floor session was abruptly halted, workers were evacuated, tourists were moved away from the north lawn and traffic eventually stopped on L Street.
Authorities brought in a robot and, according to several witnesses with a bird’s eye view from a neighboring building window, after several shouts of “Fire in the hole!” blew up the package. The thunderous boom set off car alarms for blocks and sent office workers temporarily scrambling for cover — and then for their cell phone cameras. Legal Pad’s attempts in that regard are here for you to squint at.
CHP Officer Jarrod Lassila later told a group of reporters that the bag contained no explosives. He said he didn’t know what was originally inside.
Offices in the Capitol have reopened.
— Cheryl Miller
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