Life imitates The Onion.

H/t The Agitator.

A satirical post on “The Onion” has fallen victim of the law of unintended consequences, and the Capitol Police. An article was published, claiming that members of Congress had taken a group of schoolchildren hostage and were demanding a $12 trillion ransom:

WASHINGTON—Brandishing shotguns and semiautomatic pistols, members of the 112th U.S. Congress took a class of visiting schoolchildren hostage today, barricading themselves inside the Capitol rotunda and demanding $12 trillion dollars in cash.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who has emerged as spokesman for the bipartisan group, informed FBI negotiators this morning that the ransom was to be placed in stainless-steel suitcases and left on the Capitol steps by 4 p.m. sharp. If their demands are not met in full, the 11-term representative announced, "all the kids will die. …

Shaken witnesses reported that the ordeal broke out around 10 a.m. this morning, when in the midst of a Capitol building tour, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) suddenly burst into the National Statuary Hall with a pair of black panty hose over his head and began firing a Beretta 9 mm handgun into the air, shouting, "Everybody down! Everybody get the fuck down!”

A series of tweets was used to publicize this such as:

BREAKING: Capitol building being evacuated. 12 children held hostage by group of armed congressmen. #CongressHostage and:

Police helicopter just ordered to pull back after Rep. Trent Franks tried to take it down with a shotgun #CongressHostage

This seems to have been too much for the Capitol Police, who responded:

“It has come to our attention that recent twitter feeds are reporting false information concerning current conditions at the U.S. Capitol,” Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said in an e-mail statement. “Conditions at the U.S. Capitol are currently normal. There is no credibility to these stories or the twitter feeds. The U.S. Capitol Police are currently investigating the reporting.”

Someone has no sense of humor.