According to early reports, the office of Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters D-CA received a package on Tuesday with the word “anthrax” written on it.
TMZ , who initially broke the news, reports that Maxine Waters’ offices have since been evacuated and a hazmat team was “on the scene checking out the package.”
The Los Angeles Police Department and L.A. Fire Department were also called in to investigate the anthrax claim according to The Daily Beast .
USA Today reports that the Los Angeles Police Department initially responded to the report of a suspicious package at 2:30 p.m. PT, according to LAPD Public Information Officer Mike Lopez. The Los Angeles Fire Department hazardous materials team was then called in to assess whether the package contained anthrax or not.
The package was initially suspected to contain anthrax thanks to the addressee of “Anne Thrax,” according to the statement released by Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart.
This official statement also says that only the affected portions of the two-story office building were evacuated due to the anthrax scare.
In addition, only one person has come into contact with the suspicious package. This person has not yet reported any “medical complaints” in response to their contact with the package.
It also states that since the initial call-out, the “LAFD portion of this incident is closed and any further questions would be part of a law enforcement investigation.”
Firefighters are investigating a package labeled “anthrax” at Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters’ LA office https://t.co/PYStIE9CcP pic.twitter.com/8m4ZwZjwea
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 24, 2018
USA Today has since reported that while there were initial concerns that the package contained anthrax, “the hazardous materials team found that there was ‘nothing dangerous whatsoever’ about the package.” As a result of this conclusion, LAPD’s Major Crimes Division has taken over the investigation in addition to the case being referred to the FBI.
This is not the first time Maxine Waters has received serious threats against her person. As one of President Donald Trump’s “most vocal critics in Congress,” USA Today has reported she received death threats after speaking events in Alabama and Texas.
At the time, she responded to these death threats by warning those who had threatened her that they had better “shoot straight because there’s nothing like a wounded animal.”
The Daily Beast also states that Maxine Waters has received a further death threat in response to “encouraging the heckling of Trump administration officials shortly after White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant.”
In addition to the death threats, protests outside Maxine Waters’ office last week saw her own supporters burning the American flag according to TMZ .
