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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Rep. Maxine Waters Office Evacuated for ‘Anthrax’ Package

The Los Angeles Fire Department hazardous materials team responded Tuesday to the field office of U.S Rep. Maxine Waters after a suspicious package labeled "anthrax" was discovered. 

LOS ANGELES (CN) – The Los Angeles Fire Department hazardous materials team responded Tuesday to the field office of U.S Rep. Maxine Waters after a suspicious package labeled "anthrax" was discovered and later determined to be harmless.

Staff at the longtime Democratic congresswoman’s office on Broadway St. called emergency responders after noticing the package. The Los Angeles Police Department has officers on the scene and an investigation has been launched, an LAPD representative said.

LAPD spokesman Mike Lopez told Courthouse News the “situation is under control” as of 5 p.m. An inspection of the package revealed it was not dangerous, Lopez said, but an investigation remains ongoing.

Waters’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment by press time.

No injuries have been reported.

One of President Donald Trump’s sharpest critics, Waters had to cancel two public speaking engagements in June due to death threats made against her.

“I know that there are those who are talking about censuring me, talking about kicking me out of Congress, talking about shooting me, talking about hanging me,” Waters said at a June 30 pro-immigrant rally. "All I have to say is this: if you shoot me, you better shoot straight."

Speaking at an event earlier Tuesday to honor veterans of foreign wars, Trump said Democratic politicians who are critical of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are “disciples of a very low IQ person, Maxine Waters.”

Last week, an LA-area man was sentenced to house arrest and probation for calling in a profanity-laced threat to kill Waters.

In a letter filed with the court on July 2, Waters asked U.S District Judge Stephen V. Wilson to hold Lloyd accountable “in a manner extending beyond probation.”

Waters said Lloyd might “become revered among some segments of our society” for threatening her without any “real consequences for his actions.”

Categories / Government, Politics, Regional

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