The US Capitol was evacuated on Wednesday night as police tracked an aircraft believed to pose a probable threat to the Capitol Complex.
A majority of the complex was emptied as part of the security scare, including the Capitol building, the Capitol Visitor Center, Hart, Dirksen, Russell, Cannon, Longworth, Rayburn, Library of Congress (Jefferson, Madison, Adams) and the U.S. Botanic Garden.
However, The U.S. Capitol Police issued a statement saying there was no longer any perceived hazard, just minutes after issuing a statement saying they were tracking the aircraft that posed a probable threat.
Capitol police confirming on Twitter that there was "no threat at the Capitol".
"The Capitol was evacuated out of an abundance of caution this evening," the tweet read.
"More details to come."
Fox News white house correspondent Jacqui Heinrich said Capitol staff were notified of the scare by phone.
"Hill staff got alerts to phones: evacuate now, aircraft poses probable threat to Capitol Complex," she tweeted.
Rumours were circulating that the evacuation had been prompted by a parachute drop into Nationals park before a major league baseball game.
According to Kiro 7, the plane was a "military aircraft" with members of the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights, parachuting out of it for a demonstration" at Nationals Park before a major league baseball game.
Politico Andrew Desiderio tweeted about the incident, which he referred to as a "monumental miscommunication".
"Per @flightradar24, this U.S. Army parachute team aircraft was circling the area for a while.
"It’s apparently for tonight’s Nationals game. It appears that someone forgot to tell USCP, triggering tonight’s evacuation order………" he wrote.
"So, in conclusion, a poorly coordinated pregame parachute-drop into Nationals Park caused an urgent evacuation of the U.S. Capitol complex and about 15 minutes of utter panic in Washington."
The police were preparing buildings for re-entry, they said.
A final update will be provided by the police later on.
