WASHINGTON — Question:
Were two crates filled with pipe bombs discovered near the Korean War Veterans Memorial?
Answer:
No. Prompted by online posts about this, law enforcement responded to the scene, but did not find any pipe bombs. Rumors about "suspects spotted in bushes," and "federal assets in pursuit," appear to be inaccurate.
Source:
The U.S. Park Police
Process:
Starting Tuesday night, rumors about pipe bombs in the area, surrounding The Korean Memorial, began to spread across Twitter.
"Heard earlier they found pipe bombs at the Korean War Veterans Memorial," wrote one user.
Many of these posts linked back to a tweet by Jack Posobiec, who works for the One America News Network, that has been re-tweeted more than 32,000 times.
In that tweet, Posobiec claimed that there were two crates "filled with pipe bombs discovered" near the memorial, "after suspects spotted in bushes." He also said that "federal assets" were "in pursuit."
To find the truth, the Verify Team reached out to U.S. Park Police, who sent the following statement:
"We were advised that a Tweet said that there were pipe bombs at the Korean Memorial. The memorial and all adjacent areas were swept by explosion detection K9s with negative results."
In response to criticism about the Tweet, Posobiec took to Twitter writing "I stand by my source," adding that he would not give up his sources "to unethical bloggers, or anyone, for that matter."
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