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Party Balloons Trigger Brief White House Lockdown Sunday Afternoon

The White House underwent a short-lived lockdown Sunday afternoon.

The culprit: A couple of party balloons.


A U.S. Secret Service representative told CBS News that some party balloons had drifted over the White House complex. A couple balloons landed on the property and prompted a lockdown that lasted a few minutes.

The incident comes just days after authorities shut down the White House when a U.S. Secret Service agent shot an armed man near the executive mansion. The suspect, who had walked up to a White House security checkpoint carrying a pistol, was immediately taken into custody Friday.

President Obama was not at the executive mansion at the time of Sunday’s lockdown. He is on a trip to Hanoi, Vietnam.

CBS News’ Jillian Hughes contributed to this report.