The Virginia headquarters of USA Today was evacuated on Wednesday as police responded to reports of an armed man, but the outlet ultimately reported that the scare was a false alarm.
“We are responding to reports of a man with weapon at the Gannett Building located at 7950 Jones Branch Drive in McLean,” wrote the Fairfax County Police Department on Twitter at 12:25 p.m. “Please avoid the area, updates to follow.”
The publication wrote in an online post that “alarms sounded at the building as police squad cars converged on the scene. Law enforcement officers with rifles and body armor were patrolling the area and a helicopter hovered overhead.”
A federal law enforcement source later told USA Today, however, that they found no threat or injured parties.
Fairfax police confirmed the apparent all-clear in a follow-up tweet, even as they continued to sweep the campus.
“We are working to investigate this reported threat. Officers are currently working to clear the building,” the tweet read. “At this time, we have found no evidence of any acts of violence or injuries.”
The building is not home to USA Today’s newsroom, but rather the publication’s non-newspaper offices.
The alarming incident comes in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that have left the nation on edge.
It also comes two days after USA Today’s company, Gannett, was bought by publishing titan GateHouse Media in a $1.38 billion mega-deal.
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