Authorities in Hartford, Connecticut, are looking into an incident where a man from Pennsylvania illegally accessed a high voltage electrical vault in the basement of the Connecticut State Office Building. The building is where the state’s constitutional officers operate. The 43-year-old intruder was discovered by state troopers on Sunday evening after triggering an alarm. The man gained entry to the transformer vault from an external hatchway and proceeded to switch off circuit breakers, causing some of the building’s systems to lose power. It has been confirmed that this was not a targeted attack, and no offices were impacted by the intrusion. Officials assured that there was no danger to the public or employees in the building. Following an overnight search, no other unauthorized individuals were found inside the premises.
The Connecticut State Office Building, a six-story edifice erected in the early 1930s, is located near the Connecticut State Capitol and accommodates the offices of the secretary of state, attorney general, state comptroller, and state treasurer, along with other state agencies. The facility underwent extensive renovations that concluded in 2020. As a precautionary measure, the building remained closed on Monday while law enforcement conducted a thorough sweep. Concurrently, state vendors and IT personnel worked on restoring the building’s systems to full operation.