Second gentleman Doug Emhoff was escorted out of a Black History Month event at a Washington, D.C., high school on Tuesday after the school reported a security threat.
Emhoff visited Dunbar High School in Northwest Washington, where he heard from school leaders about its Black history program that partners with the National Park Service.
About five minutes after Emhoff arrived at the school’s history wing, a Secret Service agent ushered him out. Emhoff’s staff relayed to reporters attending the event that there was a security threat reported by the school to Secret Service.
“U.S. Secret Service was made aware of a security threat at a school where the @SecondGentleman was meeting with students and faculty,” Emhoff’s communications director, Katie Peters, tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “Mr. Emhoff is safe and the school has been evacuated. We are grateful to Secret Service and D.C. Police for their work.”
A spokesperson for D.C. Public Schools told a reporter at the scene there was a bomb threat reported at the school. Teachers and students in the building were also evacuated.
“We had a threat today to the facility so … basically we took the precaution of evacuating everybody, as you saw. I think everyone is safe. The building is clear. But I don’t have any specific details at this moment,” press secretary Enrique Gutierrez said.
Dunbar principal Nadine Smith told reporters students were sent home for the day while preparations to clear the building are made.
Emhoff’s event was one of the ways the White House is seeking to highlight Black History Month. Dunbar was the first high school in the United States to serve African Americans, according to its website, and its alumni include Washington, D.C., Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), and Lawrence Chambers, who was the first African American graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy to reach the rank of admiral.
—Updated at 3:42 p.m.