BREAKING NEWS: Fighter jets are scrambled and White House and Capitol are put on lockdown as ‘unauthorized aircraft’ enters Washington D.C. airspace
Secret Service agents issued a lockdown order at the White House on Tuesday morning, citing a ‘shelter in place’ order for an ’emergency.’
A U.S. Capitol Police source said there was an ‘unauthorized aircraft’ near Washington, D.C.
Air traffic control had lost contact with the aircraft, said the source, who didn’t know what kind of plane raised government alerts.
CNBC reported that fighter jets were scrambled. Joint Base Andrews, the nearby Air Force facility that handles Air Force One traffic, did not have an immediate comment.
Reporters in the press briefing room were told to remain indoors. Similar lockdown orders have been reported at the U.S. Capitol.
Construction workers building a replacement fence on the north side of the presidential mansion were evacuated shortly after 8:30 a.m.
Shelter in place: An unauthorized aircraft in Washington D.C. airspace prompted the ‘lockdown’ of the White House and Capitol
‘They said, ‘Everybody get out.’ Just like that,’ one hard-hatted worker told DailyMail.com.
‘It’s ‘shelter-in-place’,’ a uniformed agent patrolling on the west side said. Another confirmed that ‘there’s an emergency inside.’
‘We need you to shelter that way,’ he said, pointing across 17th street.
West Wing staffers with telltale blue badges were next to exit in smaller, straggling numbers. Two of them shrugged their shoulders at a question about what caused the evacuation.
‘Don’t know,’ one woman said. ‘They don’t tell us. They just said to go.’