@TheOnion's Capitol shooting tweets

U.S. Capitol Police are investigating a series of Twitter postings from The Onion, the well-known fake news site, which posted several bogus tweets about a shooting inside the Capitol and lawmakers taking children hostages.

Beginning on Thursday morning, several messages on The Onion’s Twitter account reported “screams and gunfire inside the Capitol building. A “group of armed congressmen” was holding 12 children hostage, and a “police helicopter [was] just ordered to pull back after Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) tried to take it down with a shotgun.”

But those tweets were not funny to the Capitol Police, who have had to deal with an increased level of violent threats against members and senators in recent years, especially in the post-Sept. 11 period.

“It has come to our attention that recent Twitter feeds are reporting false information concerning current conditions at the U.S. Capitol. Conditions at the U.S. Capitol are currently normal,” said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, spokeswoman for the Capitol Police.

“There is no credibility to these stories or the Twitter feeds. The U.S. Capitol Police are currently investigating the reporting.”

The Capitol was largely empty as Congress was out for the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah. The House conducted a brief pro forma session with only three members in attendance, and the Senate was adjourned until next week.

The rest of The Onion’s Twitter feed from Thursday were more clearly parody, such as “K-Mart Reorganizes As Bed & Breakfast Chain.”

But the string of fake “Congress shooting” tweets were more straight sounding, including the latest one posted around 11:45 a.m.: “Two chaperones are also being held, one of whom is said to be pregnant.”

A spokeswoman for The Onion confirmed that the Twitter postings were genuine and noted that they linked to a satirical story where “members of the 112th U.S. Congress took a class of visiting schoolchildren hostage this morning, barricading themselves inside the Capitol rotunda, where they remain at press time.”

In the fictitious report, the lawmakers, including Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), warn “that if any attempt is made to stage a rescue ‘all the kids will die.’”

Congress, lawmakers and the Capitol building itself have come under increased threats of violence or targeted in attacks, although there is a long history of such incidents going back decades, making jokes such as the one The Onion attempted decidely not funny to those who live and work in the area.

Just this week, FBI agents arrested a Massachusetts man accused of plotting to attack the Capitol and Pentagon with remote-controlled aircraft filled with explosives.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was severely wounding in a shooting attack earlier this year, an incident that left six people dead and more than a dozen others injured. In July 2009, Capitol Police shot and killed an armed man just a block from the Capitol.

Parts of the Capitol were shut down after anthrax was mailed to lawmakers in Oct. 2001, and several Postal Service workers died following inhalation of the powerful anthrax spores. Two Capitol Police officers — Detective John Gibson and Officer Jacob Chestnut — were killed when a mentally ill man went on a shooting rampage inside the Capitol in July 1998. A bomb was set off just outside the Senate chamber in 1983, and in 1954, five House members were wounded after Puerto Rican terrorists opened fire inside the House chamber.

Security concerns in the post-Sept. 11 era, as well as the difficulty in handling the legions of tourists who descend on the Capitol grounds each year, were among the reasons that Congress funded the Capitol Visitor Center at a cost of more than $600 million.

ummmm....its the onion...i cant see why people are getting worked up

Some people just don't know how to TRY to have a sense of humor.

I love the onion... however even on fb they've taken it too far sometimes. There is a limit to funny sometimes.

The Onion is funny as fuck. I love their youtube videos.

People who take it serious are retarded. I can see how some of their things can seem real if you aren't familiar with the Onion but its not that hard to see its a joke.

Yeah. They seemingly all work at The Onion.

Thought crimes, thought crimes everywhere. 

ZING!