Man threatens to jump from Hart atrium

An unidentified Chinese man has been threatening to jump from the seventh floor of the Senate Hart Office Building's inner atrium since around 5:45 p.m., according to U.S. Capitol Police.

Police negotiators are conversing with the man through a Chinese translator and are attempting to coax him off of the shallow ledge on the outside of the glass wall overlooking the office building’s atrium.

{mosads}“We don’t know very much right now,” said Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer. “We don’t know what his issue is or what office he visited. The police are trying to calm the situation and see if we can get him on the right side of the rail.”

Police and fire department officials are working to put safety apparatuses in place, such as a safety net or an inflatable jump pad, in the event that he decides to jump, said Gainer.

“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” he added.

Police have dealt with the man previously, said Gainer, who declined to comment further until the situation was resolved.

Police have closed the atrium but have not called for an evacuation.

Fourteen senators have offices on the seventh floor, including Democratic  presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

This story was updated at 7:30 p.m.

This story was  updated at 7:57 p.m. 

UPDATE: At 10:00 pm, Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider sent out the following information: No changes. Individual remains on the 7th floor railing of the Hart Bldg.  USCP Crisis Negotiation Team along with language translators continue to talk to him and work to bring this to a safe conclusion.

UPDATE: At 1:00 A.M. Capitol Police were still working to get the man off the ledge. Schneider said the man had not moved more than a couple inches since he climbed over the railing, but that he looked as though he was getting tired. "His posture has definitely changed," she said. "He appears to be a little more tired."

UPDATE: United States Capitol Police early Tuesday resolved a situation in the Hart Senate Office Building atrium area, where a man had been threatening for hours to plunge himself from the seventh floor.

The unidentified man turned himself over to Capitol Police at approximately 2:00 am, according to police sources familiar with the events.

For more than eight hours, the man had stood about 50 feet above the ground on the outside ledge of the glass wall overlooking the building’s atrium as negotiators continued to speak with him through a translator in Mandarin Chinese, according to Capitol Police. He had climbed across the railing at about 5:45 pm on Monday.

“The U.S. Capitol Police responded to this event, established communications with the individual, and after several hours of deliberate negotiations, convinced him to return to safety on the correct side of the railing,” Capitol Police spokeswoman Sergeant Kimberly Schneider said in an e-mail circulated after 3:00 am.

Authorities had positioned an inflatable jump pad underneath him, but it was unclear whether they actually inflated it.

Schneider said that the Hart Building “will open at its usual time on Tuesday, July 22, 2008.  All streets are open for normal business.”