A fake story and a series of tweets this morning by the satirical folks at The Onion "reported" that members of Congress had taken schoolchildren hostage inside the Capitol Building.
Officials at the U.S. Capitol Police don't find any of it funny.
"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," police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider tells local news outlets.
"There is no credibility to these stories or the twitter feeds. The U.S. Capitol Police are currently investigating the reporting," she adds, according to The Washington Post's The Crime Scene blog.
The tweets, which began with word of "screams and gunfire," haven't ceased since the police department expressed its concern.
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