The employees of the UPMC Mercy Pavilion on Pittsburgh North Shore had quite the scare on a Monday morning, as an envelope containing a white, powdery substance was discovered in the mail room.
Panic set in as EMT’s, Hazmat’s, and the police responded, as well as 300 employees being immediately told to shelter-in-place. In less than an hour, after swiping the material, the cocaine-suspected powder turned out to be flour.
After the substance had been identified, the building and employees went right back to their normal agendas, although, it was sure to be brought up throughout the day, no doubt about it.
Though it may seem like a harmless prank, it is suspected that the envelope was a sort of “terrorist” threat. The envelope was labeled and addressed to the office, and along with the white substance, a note was found inside.
This note is not yet publicized but is declared to be “threatening”, said the statement from Pittsburgh Public Safety. Why they are being targeted is unknown. It may seem like a bizarre circumstance, but this is not the first time an act like this has been seen before. Hoaxes like this are an illegal action, labeled as a crime punishable by law.
In Kansas back in 2023, they encountered a similar issue with over 100 envelopes filled with harmless white powder containing a threatening note scattered everywhere. They spread to Tennessee and Montana–even to Donald Trump. This stretched their police force thin, making it difficult to reach those who were in a real crisis.
More recently, there were also envelopes filled with threats and harmless powder in the mailroom of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations just this past August. This is also an ongoing investigation.
Though these are less local cases that were taken over by the FBI–it is important to recognize that though it is harmless for now–the future, motive, and culprit remains unclear and uncertain. Looking into past incidents may be able to help.
More details await in the meantime, the case is still under current investigation.
