Walter Reed's Building 19 Re-Opens After Bomb Threat

UPDATE, 3:23 p.m., Aug. 8: The America Building on the campus of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center has re-opened following an earlier bomb threat, according to a base spokesman.

No explosives were found after a sweep of the building.

Occupants were allowed back into the six-floor outpatient medical building around 12:50 p.m. Wednesday, according to Joe Macri, a spokesman for Naval Support Activity Bethesda, of which the hospital is a tenant.

The installation’s emergency personnel responded shortly after 8:50 a.m., when an unknown person called and said a bomb would explode in the building at 10 a.m. NIH police assisted with canines, Macri said.

Outpatient services at the hospital were suspended during the response, and resumed shortly before 1 p.m., Macri said. One gate to the base was closed during the incident, and has re-opened.

NCIS is following up with an investigation.

Original Post, Aug. 8: A bomb threat was called in to the campus of the Wednesday morning, a base spokesman confirms.

An unknown individual called the base around 8:50 a.m. and said a bomb would go off in Building 19, or the America Building, at 10 a.m., said base spokesman Joe Macri. The America Building was evacuated shortly thereafter.

Just before noon, the building was still being swept by explosive detection dogs.

The America Building, one of the newer buildings at the base, has a capacity of 2800 people, Macri said. It’s unclear how many people were in the building when it was evacuated.

Those that were evacuated from the America Building remained on the base, Macri said. “They’re around the base right now, a safe distance from the building,” Macri said.

A notice on the military hospital’s website reads that all appointments have been suspended until 13:00.

The America Building, a six-floor outpatient clinic and cancer treatment center for military members and their families, opened on base early last year,

The 515,000 square foot building includes cancer treatment facilities, an amputee center with a swimming pool, and outpatient clinics including internal medicine, audiology, dermatology and orthopedics.

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This post has been updated.