Bomb squad removes package from Capitol

Building evacuated for about two hours Monday morning

Sgt. Charles Arnold, right, a bomb technician with the Washington State Patrol, carries a package that led to the evacuation of the Capitol for about two hours in Olympia.

Sgt. Charles Arnold, right, a bomb technician with the Washington State Patrol, carries a package that led to the evacuation of the Capitol for about two hours in Olympia.

photo

AP

A bomb squad truck is parked outside he Washington state Capitol during an evacuation for about two hours after someone noticed a suspicious package left in the rotunda on Monday, Aug. 13, 2012, in Olympia, Wash. The building was reopened after the package, a cloth shopping bag left in a roped-off area on the state seal, was deemed safe and removed by the Washington State Patrol bomb squad. (AP Photo/Rachel La Corte)

OLYMPIA — A bomb squad has removed a suspicious package from Washington's Capitol building.

The Washington State Patrol reopened the building to workers and the public around noon Monday, about two hours after evacuating the site. A bomb squad member wearing full protective gear and helmet carried a cloth shopping bag out of the building.

Authorities say the package was suspicious in part because it was left in a roped-off area in the center of the Capitol rotunda.

Lawmakers are not in session at the Capitol, but staff members for the governor's office and other state agencies work in the building.

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