Update 2: The woman who barricaded herself in a downtown office building is now in police custody, though some road closures remain in place on 20th Street Northwest from I to L Streets.

For Charlotte de Fontaubert, this morning’s closures meant that her 20 minute commute from Mount Pleasant to her office near the White House took more than two hours.

“Some people were freaking out,” de Fontaubert says. “One woman was in tears. There were missed appointments but let’s put it in perspective, given what happened in Paris this weekend. It was a minor inconvenience, even though no one on the bus knew what was going on.”

Update 1: According to police, a woman remains barricaded in an office building on M Street Northwest.

Ongoing police activity is causing street closures in downtown D.C., leading to traffic congestion and bus delays.

18th through 21st Streets and I through M Northwest are closed to both cars and pedestrians as police deal with a barricade situation regarding an ongoing mental health crisis, leaving many workers stranded from their office buildings.

Police responded to a call shortly after 1 a.m. this morning at the 1900 block of K Street after a person was barricaded in an office building, in what police are calling a mental health crisis. The Washington Post says police arrived after a woman discharged a gun into the street after midnight. There are no reports of injuries.

Metrobuses are experiencing delays of up to an hour.

Some restaurants in the area have already announced late openings.

Filed Under: downtown, mental health crisis, mpd, traffic,