Did The Onion miss the mark with its ‘screams and gunfire’ tweet?

Not everybody thought The Onion's Thursday tweet "Breaking: Witnesses reporting screams and gunfire heard inside Capitol building" was very funny. Actually, it scared the living expletive out of some, reports the Washington Post. Some people even thought it was a hack.

The Onion isn't apologizing, saying "This is satire. That's how it works."

Not everybody thought The Onion's Thursday tweet "Breaking: Witnesses reporting screams and gunfire heard inside Capitol building" was very funny. Actually, it scared the living expletive out of some, reports the Washington Post. Some people even thought it was a hack.

The Onion isn't apologizing, saying "This is satire. That's how it works."

The tweets were meant to refer to a story posted on The Onion's site, which poked fun at the recent budget troubles in Washington by imagining a scenario in which Congress takes some kids hostage and demands mega cash.

The Onion followed up its earlier tweet with this one "Breaking: Capitol building being evacuated. 12 children held hostage by group of armed congressmen."

Was it enough to make the whole thing funny again? Was it already funny — or did The Onion miss the mark on this one? Discuss.