(WASHINGTON) — Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, attending an event at Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, was escorted out of the room by a U.S. Secret Service agent because of a reported “security threat.”
Emhoff was ushered out of the room at 2:18 p.m. by a Secret Service agent, according to a press pool report. Dunbar’s principal followed a few minutes later, the report said.
His staff informed the pool there was a security threat reported by the school to the Secret Service.
A school announcement came over the intercom at 2:34 p.m. calling on teachers to evacuate the school and reporters left the building as well.
Enrique Gutierrez, the press secretary for DC Public Schools, said, “It was an apparent bomb threat … It was a bomb threat. We’re taking precautions, evacuation — evacuating everybody. Seems like all the students are out and safe.”
Earlier, Emhoff’s office put out a news release saying that, in commemoration of Black History Month, Emhoff would visit the school “to meet with students who are participating in a program that helps them relate to history on a personal level.”
His wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, was not with him at the time.
Emhoff’s communications director, Katie Peters, said in a statement that Emhoff is safe after the U.S. Secret Service had been “made aware of a security threat” at the school.
“U.S. Secret Service was made aware of a security threat at a school where the Second Gentleman was meeting with students and faculty,” the statement said. “Mr. Emhoff is safe and the school has been evacuated. We are grateful to Secret Service and D.C. Police for their work.”
“This afternoon during an event attended by a Secret Service protectee, the Secret Service was made aware of a threat to the venue and immediately evacuated the protectee,” a Secret Service spokesperson said in a statement.
“At this time there is no information to indicate the threat was directed toward our protectee. In order to maintain operational security, the Secret Service does not discuss our protectees or the means and methods used to conduct our protective operations,” the spokesperson said.
During a news conference later Tuesday, D.C. police said that the bomb threat at Dunbar High School during Emhoff’s visit appeared to be unrelated to previous bomb threats recently against Historically Black Colleges and Universities and that Emhoff wasn’t targeted, based on a preliminary investigation.
The bomb threat “doesn’t appear related and tied to what happened over the last few weeks but again, can’t rule it out,” Ashan M. Benedict, executive assistant chief of police with the Metropolitan Police Department, told reporters.
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