Update: 39 D.C. schools receive letters with white powder
The number of D.C. schools receiving letters containing a powdery substance and referencing al Qaeda has increased to 39, the FBI said Friday.
Several District schools evacuated on Thursday when 29 of the letters bearing a Dallas postmark were opened in school mail rooms or administrative offices. “This morning, we’ve collected eight more letters,” said Andrew Ames, an FBI spokesman.
Earlier Story: The FBI has started an investigation into letters containing a white powder with references to al Qaeda that were received by at least 25 Washington schools — causing several of them to evacuate their students.
Although no one was harmed, the bureau said the matter was being treated as a “serious criminal offense.” The letters are believed to be linked to similar mailings to schools across the nation in recent weeks, and the FBI is concerned the threat is escalating.
“Just because we have no [dangerous substance] so far, the concern is that that would change,” said James McJunkin, an FBI field office chief.
Calls poured in to the police beginning at noon Thursday, when M.C. Terrell Elementary School staff opened a letter containing the powdery substance. The envelopes bore a Dallas postmark, and the schools’ addresses were typed and affixed on labels.
“AL-QAEDA-FBI” was typed in the center of a plain white sheet of paper covered in the white powder.
Linwood Jolly, president of School Without Walls parent association, was meeting with the principal at 2:15 p.m. when the Northwest school’s secretary opened the letter. Jolly said the envelope contained “maybe two large medicine capsules’ ” worth of powder, which got all over the desk. The words “AL-QAEDA-FBI” were typed in the center of the white page.
Students were evacuated and the secretary was evaluated on-site, Jolly said.
Pete Piringer, spokesman for D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said they determined the substance does not pose “an immediate safety hazard” and that no students were harmed or transported for treatment. The letters were contained to mail rooms and administrative offices.
The FBI is collecting the letters and analyzing the powder; officials say they have been investigating similar letters arriving at schools nationwide.
Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said “there is a plan in place” to prevent any more of these letters from arriving in schools, but declined to elaborate.
Mayor Vincent Gray said he is “sure there will be efforts now to try to intercept mail before it gets to the schools.” He called the mailings “a dastardly act.”
Eve Stubsman, a teacher at Southeast’s Ballou Senior High School, said the school went into lockdown about 3:05 p.m., shortly before the final bell, and that students were released about 10 minutes past schedule. “We looked outside the classroom window and there were hazmat teams,” she said.
Lafayette Elementary was on lockdown from about 2:30 to 3 p.m., when officials deemed the coast clear. “Who knows why anyone does these things,” said Dan Aladjem, co-president of the Northwest school’s parent organization. “I guess some people find it funny. … It’s really not funny.”
