Washington DC’s Thomas Circle has been shut down because of a suspicious package. As I write, cop cars are surrounding the traffic circle, located just a half-mile north of the White House, and the area is blocked off by yellow police tape.

While the cops declined to comment on the situation, I spoke to somebody who works in one of the affected buildings, and she told me that around 10:30 am, an announcement came across the PA system instructing everybody that they had to evacuate because of a suspicious package.

She also told me that one person in her building had reported seeing a trash can with a package sticking out of it, and a purse resting next to the trash can.

Workers in the building have been told that they’ll be waiting outside for at least an hour as police bomb experts bring an X-ray machine to the scene to examine the package.

I snapped a photo of the scene below.

UPDATE: From comments:

My sister was the person who reported the suspicious package; she sits next to the window, and saw what appeared to be a homeless person push a rolling trash can up next to the building and walk away. She thought that was mighty strange, so she told building security, and there you are. Probably will turn out to be nothing, but worth checking out.

UPDATE II: Thomas Circle is now open and workers have been allowed back in the building after it was determined that the package did not represent a threat.