The message read: “Report suspicious activity! Total Bull—-! You have created a self fulfilling prophecy.”
A package addressed to the U.S. Homeland Security secretary ignited Friday at a postal facility, and authorities said it was similar to fiery parcels sent to Maryland officials a day earlier by someone complaining about the state’s terrorism tip line.
The suspicious package was discovered by an employee at the D.C. facility when it began popping and smoking and emitted “a brief flash of fire” before extinguishing itself, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said. The details were very much like what Maryland authorities described Thursday after workers at state government buildings opened the small packages about the size of a book. There, the workers’ fingers were singed.
It’s not clear what ignited the package at the D.C. facility because the worker didn’t open the package, Lanier said. No one was injured.
Authorities were bracing for more packages to surface.
“Right now we don’t have any other packages, but we’re not taking anything for granted,” Lanier said.
The D.C. package was addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, according to a department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation. The parcel ignited in northeast Washington about 2:45 p.m. Authorities wouldn’t say whether it contained a note.
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