USA Today headquarters deemed safe after gun threat forces evacuation

A gun threat that caused police to evacuate USA Today headquarters in McLean, Virginia, Wednesday afternoon was declared a “non-event” by police, who said they have no evidence that a crime occurred.

Days after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, Fairfax County police said they received a 911 call just before noon about a former employee of the building in the building with a gun. No shots had been fired. Police began searching the building “floor by floor” for the person shortly after receiving the report, Chief Edwin Roessler said in a 2 p.m. press briefing.

At 3:10 p.m., Roessler announced that officials had completed their search of the building. Police found the person in another part of Fairfax County, but hadn’t verified whether the person actually had a gun.

USA Today shares the building at 7090 Jones Branch Dr. with several other companies.

The threat came one day after the announcement of a merger between Gannett, which owns USA Today, and GateHouse. The resulting company would be the largest newspaper chain in the country.

It also comes one day after a Florida man was arrested for threatening to open fire in a Walmart and an Illinois man was arrested for threatening to shoot up a McDonald’s “like El Paso.”

This story was originally published August 7, 2019 at 1:25 PM.