Metro Shutdown Disrupts Morning Commute

Orange, Blue Lines Closed After Bomb Threat Reported, Suspicious Packages Found

December 12, 2003
By Lyndsey Layton, William Branigin and David Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer

Police and transit authorities shut down extensive parts of the Metro rail system today because of a series of bomb threats, disrupting the morning commute of thousands of Washington area passengers.

Metro announced the shutdown of services on stretches of its Orange and Blue lines at about 8 a.m., after a man phoned police to report that he had placed an explosive device somewhere on the tracks in the area of the Stadium-Armory station, Metro spokesman Ray Feldmann said.

FBI units were called to the scene, joining District and Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority police in searching for the purported device, said Debbie Weierman, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office. She said police had received "several anonymous calls about a bomb being placed in the area of 34th St. and Benning Rd." in Northeast Washington.

She said FBI bomb technicians "disrupted" a package that was found in that area, opening it up from a distance by means that she declined to specify.

"Field testing was negative for anything hazardous on radiological and chemical substances," Weierman said, adding that tests for other possibly hazardous materials were continuing.

She said a second package was found "in the form of a briefcase" in the 500 block of Oklahoma Ave. NE, about 25 yards from the first package. This package was being taken to a parking lot of RFK Stadium by FBI technicians to be opened from a distance, she said

The FBI units involved were from the National Capital Response Squad and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Weierman said.

Sgt. Joe Gentile, a D.C. police spokesman, said at the scene of this morning's incident that an unidentified male had called police about 5:30 a.m. and said he had left an explosive device on a playground located on the 300 block of Oklahoma Ave. NE. An officer sent to the scene spotted a box, and the bomb squad was summoned.

About 9 a.m., officers from the squad fired a water cannon at the box, Gentile said. When they approached it, they saw that the box contained a dish and some kind of substance. The contents were taken away to be analyzed. Gentile had no other description for what was inside the box.

About 10:15 or 10:20 a.m., bomb-sniffing dogs from the U.S. Capitol Police detected something in a briefcase nearby, Gentile said. Police closed part of Benning Road, between 21st St. and Minnesota Ave. NE, as the briefcase was being examined.

The investigation drew dozens of emergency vehicles to the scene from such agencies as the U.S. Capitol Police, the D.C. fire and police departments and the FBI, as well as from special operations and hazardous materials units.

The Metro tracks emerge from a tunnel in this general area. The elevated tracks cross Benning Road and then the bridge over the Anacostia River. Spingarn High School, which is at 26th and Benning, has not been affected, and players were still on the links at Langston Golf Course, also nearby.

For much of the morning commute, Metro stopped running trains between Stadium Armory and Minnesota Ave. on the Orange Line and between Benning Rd. and Stadium Armory on the Blue Line. Along the rest of the Blue and Orange lines, Metro reported delays as long as one hour.

The transit system sent 21 buses to shuttle passengers between the closed Metro stations. But the process was slow, and crowds of delayed commuters formed at Orange Line and Blue Line stations in Maryland, Virginia and the District.

Traffic delays in the area were minimal except for some backups around Oklahoma Ave., which was closed, said Jim Russ, director of operations for Metro Traffic, which supplies traffic reports to local radio and television stations. Russ said many commuters were walking along Benning Road, trying to catch buses.

At the East Falls Church station, many passengers gave up and left the station after waiting for half an hour or more for a train. Clusters of people were attempting to find taxis and other alternative transportation.

Those who did get on trains on the two lines found them slow. A ride from Dunn Loring to East Falls Church, which usually takes about 10 minutes, required 45 minutes.

At the West Falls Church station, some passengers waited more than an hour on the platform. Two trains pulled into the station during this time, and the passengers boarded them and waited, only to hear announcements that the trains were being taken out of service. When the trains finally began taking passengers toward the District again, the cars were packed with passengers, forcing many people to wait for the next train and hope for a bit of space to squeeze through the doors.

Informed that the delay had been caused by a "suspicious package," several passengers joked that someone must have dropped a Christmas present.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59220-2003Dec12.html