Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, was evacuated from a school after a bomb threat, according to a spokesperson.
Reporters who were on the scene said that Secret Service agents approached Emhoff, who was at Dunbar High School for an event in commemoration of Black History Month in Washington, and told him “we have to go.” An Associated Press reporter said Emhoff was taken away from the building and into his motorcade. Photos captured by the AP show him being grabbed by the arm and being moved by an agent.
District of Columbia Public Schools spokesman Enrique Gutierrez told the outlet that there was a bomb threat at the school. It’s not clear if it was connected to Emhoff’s visit.
“U.S. Secret Service was made aware of a security threat at a school where the @SecondGentleman was meeting with students and faculty,” Emhoff spokesperson Katie Peters wrote in a Twitter post, referring to the honorific used to describe Emhoff. “Mr. Emhoff is safe and the school has been evacuated. We are grateful to Secret Service and D.C. Police for their work.”
Earlier, Peters said the school told the Secret Service about the alleged threat, which was described as a “security incident or a report of a potential security incident.”
Emhoff’s wife, Harris, was not with him during the incident.
The Secret Service has not immediately responded to a request for comment.
Students at the school were sent home, according to the Post. Teachers remained on the football field as of 3:45 p.m. ET as police dogs searched the premises.
“Our protocol is to clear the building and move the kids away,” Dunbar Principal Nadine Smith told reporters. “[The District of Columbia Public Schools] just gave us directions to make sure, to go ahead and send the kids home.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that she had no updates on the situation involving Emhoff.
Earlier, Emhoff’s office sent out a news release that he would visit the school “to meet with students who are participating in a program that helps them relate to history on a personal level.”