Powder that prompted partial Arizona Capitol evacuation deemed ‘nonhazardous’

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — White powder found in an envelope that prompted an evacuation of part of the Arizona State Capitol on Thursday was nonhazardous, officials confirmed Friday.

The envelope was sent to the Executive Tower, which houses the offices of the governor, state treasurer and secretary of state, along with other state agencies, boards and commissions.

It came from the state’s mail processing facility and was eventually opened by a clerk on the seventh floor of the Executive Tower.

When it was opened, staff called law enforcement, isolated the powder and anyone possibly exposed, evacuated employees and closed off the floor. No one was hurt, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

The envelope contained a “non-harmful substance,” Fontes told Arizona’s Family Friday morning.

Officials “don’t have any finality” on what the substance was, but testing is underway, Fontes said.

Crews also temporarily quarantined the mail processing facility while investigating where it came from.

“The FBI is going to be running this whole thing, but it’s safe to assume that they may be looking at whether or not this is connected to the several other states that have had these types of incidences,” Fontes said.

The FBI confirmed Thursday it was “investigating a series of suspicious mailings sent to various addresses nationwide, including secretary of state offices and their related election offices,” in a written statement.

Fontes said he is hoping for “swift justice” and that the incident “illustrates how prepared we are” in case other incidents happen.

“We are encouraging our county officials and other elections officials across the state to continue to be vigilant because we are in the thick of it right now,” Fontes said. “Those folks that want to disrupt American democracy and get in the way of American voters, they may keep trying.”

Gov. Katie Hobbs, who was not in the tower at the time of the incident, thanked first responders for the swift actions and demanded accountability for those behind the white powder.

“Threats against our hard-working public servants are unacceptable. Anybody responsible for threatening or intimidating elections officials should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” she said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Safeguarding elections

The FBI released a joint statement with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service addressing the string of suspicious packages across the country.

“Some of the letters contained an unknown substance and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners to respond to each incident,” the FBI said in its Thursday statement. “We are also working with our partners to identify the individual or individuals responsible for the letters. This FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service will continue to safeguard the public and secure elections for American citizens.”

The Arizona incident is part of a string of suspicious mailings sent to election offices nationwide just three weeks before Election Day.

Election offices in at least two other states, Louisiana and Oklahoma, were evacuated this week after receiving packages containing a powdery substance. The Ohio secretary of state’s office said the Postal Service intercepted a package containing white powder intended for its office, and election offices from Idaho to Florida reported either receiving similar letters or having them intercepted.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission said white powder enclosed in a letter sent to its office was also not hazardous, according to tests.

The mailings are reminiscent of a similar threat in 2023, when election offices in six states received letters containing white powder that disrupted work around local elections in some cases.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.