City Hall evacuated; officials receive threatening letters
UPDATE 3: Here's our updated story, which quotes an email circulated among judges about envelopes containing white powder and bullets. The letter warned the judges to be careful what they touched or ate. "Judges on the Baltimore City Circuit Court have their lives threatened all the time," said Judge M. Brooke Murdock. But "not quite like this. This is pretty dramatic."
ORIGINAL POST: The Associated Press, citing information from the city Police Department, said authorities were investigating a report of white powder found in an envelope. Police said three threatening letters were sent to City Hall and the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse by Priority Mail, and are being investigated by them and U.S. Postal inspectors. Baltimore's City Hall was evacuated for about 40 minutes after a mail clerk found a "suspicious" package and notified authorities, a Fire Department spokesman said. The package was found to be harmless and employees returned to work about 12:40 p.m., Cartwright said.
We'll update as this story develops..
UPDATE: Threatening letters were sent to four judges, including Administrative Judge Marcella A. Holland and Judge Wanda K. Heard, said Angelita Plemmer, a spokeswoman for the court system. At least one of the letters arrived Friday and one arrived today, she said.
The Baltimore Sun obtained an e-mail, purportedly sent by Heard to Holland, which stated that she had received a bullet and a threatening letter in a Priority Mail envelope.
Plemmer said that she could not comment on the contents of the envelopes. An employee in Heard's office directed questions to Plemmer.
UPDATE 2: The Sun's Tricia Bishop confirmed through the city sheriff's office that Heard received a bullet in the mail; Judge Brooke Murdock also confirmed that she received an envelope containing a bullet. It's not clear what the motivation behind the letters was.
