DENVER, Colorado — The Colorado State Capitol was evacuated for about 35 minutes on Wednesday morning, October 28, after Colorado State Patrol troopers found a suspicious device on a windowsill outside the building's east entrance — a device the patrol said was designed to look like an explosive device. A 32-year-old man was arrested during the investigation and transferred to the custody of the Denver Police Department, the State Patrol said.
Source: KRDO (Colorado State Patrol statement)
The building was evacuated at around 11:15 a.m. as a precaution, according to the Colorado State Patrol (CSP), which provides security at the Capitol complex in downtown Denver. Lincoln Street and 14th Avenue, the streets at the Capitol's eastern side, were also closed while the device was examined.
Cleared within the hour
The Denver Police Department's Bomb Squad arrived a few minutes after the evacuation began, the State Patrol said, and its technicians determined that the device was not a threat to the public. The evacuation order was lifted just before 11:50 a.m., and the Capitol reopened. FOX31 Denver, reporting the same State Patrol account, also described the device as deemed a non-threat after the bomb squad's examination.
Source: FOX31 Denver (via Spot On Colorado listing)
During the investigation, State Patrol troopers arrested a 32-year-old male suspect and then transferred custody of him to the Denver Police Department, CSP said. In the reports available on Wednesday, officials had not released the man's name, had not announced what charges he may face, and had not said how the device came to be on the windowsill. Those details are expected, if at all, from Denver police and court records as the case moves forward.
Confirmed by the Colorado State Patrol: a device designed to look like an explosive was found at the east entrance, the Capitol was evacuated from about 11:15 a.m. to just before 11:50 a.m., the bomb squad found no threat, and a 32-year-old man was arrested. Not yet announced: the suspect's name, any charges, and any motive.
Who guards a state capitol
Security at the Colorado Capitol is the job of the Colorado State Patrol, whose troopers screen visitors, patrol the grounds and respond to exactly this kind of report — which is why the first public account of Wednesday's incident came from the patrol rather than from Denver police. When a device cannot be cleared by sight, the call goes to a bomb squad: in Denver, that is the Denver Police Department's Bomb Squad, whose technicians examine the object and decide whether it can do harm. On Wednesday that examination took minutes, not hours, and it ended the evacuation.
Evacuations of this kind are disruptive by design. The Capitol houses the governor's office, the state House and Senate chambers and hundreds of staff, lobbyists and visitors on a working day, and the building sits at the edge of downtown Denver, where closing Lincoln Street and 14th Avenue pushes traffic into the surrounding grid. Officials accept that disruption because the alternative — leaving people inside while a device is checked — is a risk no security agency will take.
A jittery month for Colorado officials
Wednesday's scare came nine days after a different security alert touched Colorado's elected officials. On Monday, October 19, letters containing an unknown white powder were delivered to the district offices of U.S. Representatives Jason Crow, Diana DeGette and Brittany Pettersen and to the Denver office of U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, Colorado Public Radio reported at the time; the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated, officials said no harmful substance had been confirmed in those mailings, and members of Congress said the letters would not stop their offices' work. Those mailings were part of a wider series sent to election and congressional offices around the country in the run-up to the November 3 midterms.
There is no reported link between the October 19 mailings and Wednesday's device at the Capitol, and Awaaz Punjab is not suggesting one. The point is narrower: with the midterms six days away, Wednesday's response — evacuate first, examine second, announce only what is confirmed — is the protocol now being applied to every suspicious object reported near a seat of government in Colorado.
What happens next
The case now sits with the Denver Police Department, which holds the arrested man. The next confirmed facts to watch for are his identity, his booking charges and a first court appearance, at which prosecutors would have to state what they allege he did. Until Denver police or court records provide those details, the verified story of Wednesday is a short one told in full above: a fake-looking device, a 35-minute evacuation, a bomb-squad all-clear, and one man in custody.