A message intended to be a test of a Capitol Police office communications system turned into a false alarm this morning, as staff and visitors from all three Senate office buildings briefly evacuated the premises. Capitol Police spokesman Michael Lauer said, “A message was sent in error during a testing of the systems. People may have self-evacuated but the fire alarms were never set off.” Police officers standing outside the building quickly instructed staffers and visitors to re-enter the buildings because there was no emergency.

The entire episode lasted no more than 15 minutes.

— John McArdle