U.S.

Pressure Cooker Destroyed Near U.S. Capitol

Capitol Police officers spotted a pressure cooker in a "suspicious" car Sunday, but say the public was never in any danger.

Pressure Cooker Destroyed Near U.S. Capitol
WMAR

You're looking at a bomb squad technician readying a pressure cooker to be destroyed Sunday on the National Mall in Washington, DC. (Video via WMAR)

And that's the sound of Capitol Police doing what they, in a statement, rather formally called "disrupt[ing] items of concern." (Video via WNBC)

"I just heard a big boom. It sounded like a cannon going off," one witness told WJLA.

An incident CNN called "terrifying" but wasn't particularly. 

Capitol Police had warned the public about the noise of the controlled detonation ahead of time and also say no one was never in any danger.  

They spotted the pressure cooker and a propane tank in a car parked on the National Mall, and Capitol Police said they smelled gasoline, so they destroyed the pressure cooker "out of an abundance of caution." (Video via WRC-TV)

But thousands were in the area for the National Memorial Day Concert. (Video via National Park Service)

And while this one apparently wasn't a threat, pressure cookers have been used in fatal incidents like the Boston Marathon bombings.

Police did find the car's owner, Israel Shimeles, and arrested him Sunday.