#Inside the senate office buildings full
#Inside the senate office buildings windows

Staff members carried large boxes full of electoral votes, preventing rioters from gaining control of the official records sent by the states declaring which candidate had received the most votes.īoozman noticed Sen. Women took off their heels to run down the lengthy tunnel to the Senate office buildings. Outside the chamber, Capitol Police were quickly overwhelmed as they fought to prevent access to the building at multiple points on the east and west fronts of the Capitol, while others worked to secure representatives and senators. I slid to my belly behind a row of chairs in the box where the first lady sits during the State of the Union. “Crouch on the floor!” an officer shouted. Officers on the floor shouted at reporters to move from their seats across from the main doors and get out of a direct line of fire. How are we going to defend ourselves? How are we going to fight back?”Ī few lawmakers still on the floor assisted plainclothes officers in shoving a bookcase in front of the chamber’s main entry - the same one the president passes through for the State of the Union address. “I didn’t think we were going to ever leave,” she said. The doors to exit the gallery slammed shut before she and the members could reach them. Torres stayed behind to help representatives who couldn’t run. Reporters encountered the mess as they were escorted from the building. USCP.”Įmergency air filtration hoods and other Capitol Police gear were strewn about.

Torres received a text at 2:18 p.m.: “Capitol: Internal security threat: move inside office/lock doors, seek cover and remain silent. I looked over the railing into the chamber and noticed that Pelosi, second in line to the presidency, had been spirited away by her security detail. I ran back to my seat in the House gallery to alert my editors.

#Inside the senate office buildings windows

“You may move throughout the building, but stay away from exterior windows and doors. Capitol Building, no entry or exit is permitted at this time,” a panicked voice said. “Due to an external security threat located on the West Front of the U.S. “You could tell stuff was happening down there, but up here was just dead quiet.” The Capitol locks downĪt 2:13 p.m., I walked into the House press offices in time to hear the emergency radio crackle to life. “There was this weird calm before the storm” on the third floor, he told me. The hallway was empty the officers who’d been stationed outside the Senate public galleries had been called elsewhere. Laslo raced up the stairs to the third-floor windows to take photos of what was happening outside.