As hundreds of thousands of Broncos fans left Tuesday’s Super Bowl parade, a 4 p.m. bomb threat shut down the state Capitol, forcing nervous lawmakers, staff and the public outside.
The caller said there was an explosive device in the Statehouse, reported the Denver Police Department. Neither a suspect nor a motive has been named. No device was found.
Gov. John Hickenlooper was not at the Capitol when the call came in, said spokesperson Kathy Green.
For more than three hours, the Statehouse was surrounded by police, Denver Fire Department and Department of Homeland Security personnel, along with bomb-sniffing dogs from three metro-area police squads.
The dogs, who were exhausted from a full day monitoring for threats at the Super Bowl 50 celebration in Civic Center Park, sluggishly searched dozens of committee rooms and offices.
Just like people, dogs get tired, too, said a state trooper on the scene. The exhausted animals slowed down the search.
Photo credit: Brian Papantonio, Creative Commons, Flickr.
