A reporter’s 9/11 as it unfolded in Washington, D.C.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -Everyone who is old enough can recall where they were and what they were doing on September 11th, 2001. At that time, TV20′s David Snyder was the Congressional Correspondent for CBN News, and recounts the events of that fateful day in the nation’s capital:
It wasn’t a day to take “selfies,” even if we knew what they were back then. A turbulent scene on Capitol Hill was anything but festive or scenic for the thousands of tourists who daily filled the streets of Washington D.C.
My videographer Jerome and I were covering an outdoor news conference two blocks from the Capitol Building. We had already heard of the terrible “accident” at the World Trade Center, but were still focused on another day of politics on Capitol Hill.
Suddenly, a black SUV with tinted windows pulled up and security agents whisked away House Majority Whip Tom Delay, leaving behind lesser Members of Congress and the media to conclude something was seriously wrong about what happened in New York.
Jerome packed up our gear while I called in to our News Bureau on NW 19th Street to find out what was going on. That’s when an enormous explosion thundered down the D Street corridor.
Not knowing what had been hit, but now fully aware the nation was facing an unprecedented disaster, we headed west toward the sound of the explosion and subsequent sirens. So. many. sirens. It was nerve-wracking, trying to make our way through throngs of people and cars, all of us nervously glancing upward at the tops of the tall buildings around us, wondering if one of them was the next target.
Jerome and I finally learned that it had been the Pentagon that had been hit; across the river and too far for us to make it on foot. We returned to the Capitol Complex to start making sense of what was happening. Interns, lobbyists, staffers, and Members of Congress rushed or wandered about outside of the Capitol grounds, which had been evacuated and closed. We conducted several short interviews with bewildered lawmakers who knew little more than we did. But the general understanding is that a fourth airplane had been hijacked and the prevailing opinion was that it was headed toward us.
Senate Radio-TV Gallery officials had little more information for us other to say that Delay and the other congressional leaders had been sequestered in a safe place. Not knowing what else to do, Jerome and I decided to simply hold vigil over the Capitol Building and await developments.
To do that, I visited the home of a US Senator who lived in a five story Brownstone on Second Avenue, a block from the Capitol. He allowed us to scale the outside ladder from a fifth floor window to the roof, where we watched and waited, fearful of what might unfold next.
We spotted a sniper on the roof of the Supreme Court building about a block away, and F16 jets attempting to quarantine the air space. Very few people moved on the streets. I couldn’t use my cell phone to call home, to assure my family I was okay, because the system was overwhelmed with so many others trying to call home.
We finally learned about the final hijacked plane crashing in a field in Pennsylvania, believing that was the second deadly weapon destined for Washington.
Eventually, Capitol Police allowed me to return to my office in the Capitol to retrieve my belongings--and that was another surreal experience. Our steps echoed strangely down the corridors since nearly no one else was in the building. And at one point it began to dawn on me that I was seeing quite a number of women’s shoes scattered across the floors. I asked my officer escort what that was all about. He explained that the building was evacuated so fast that many women had discarded their heels in an effort to get out as fast as possible.
The extraordinary events that day were not finished. In a remarkable demonstration of defiance and unity, hundreds of Members of Congress gathered on the East steps of the Capitol Building to announce they would not be intimidated. As the gathering came to a close, one of the lawmakers started singing. Others hesitated, then joined in and soon, the entire contingent belted out “God Bless America.”
My final indelible image of the day was taking a cab across town and running into virtually no traffic along the way--the city had been closed down. It felt bizarre, like a scene out of the Twilight Zone. Practically the only vehicles left on the streets were military, in place to enforce orders and keep order. At the Bureau, I put together my report and gave an on-air debriefing of my experiences.
Eventually, I drove home through the still-empty streets to give my wife and daughters the most heartfelt embrace I could possibly summon--grateful we were okay but knowing our world had changed forever.
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