Muscogee Nation Tribal Complex Evacuated After Suspicious Letter Found

HAZMAT teams evacuate everyone inside the Muscogee Nation Tribal complex after an employee in the mail room made a concerning discovery.

The evacuation started with a letter. Investigators say there was nothing special or threatening about it. However, when an employee opened the letter up, a cloud of powder fell out.

Jason Salsman with the Muscogee Nation described a tense few hours as first responders were called to the scene to investigate what they thought could be a dangerous substance inside the letter.

“It alarmed us all. I think when you get news like that you get news like that, you first think of the employee that opened the letter itself, but then the other employees that were affected that were in the building," he said.

Salsman said only a handful of employees were in the mail room and exposed to the powder, but they evacuated the entire complex just in case.

“First all get the scene secure and get everybody away from the substance and then get the substance tested," he said. "Better safe than sorry. I think in our situation it was the most caution that we could practice.”

He said fully equipped HAZMAT crews went into the building and got a sample. They tested it on-site and found out it was non-hazardous.

“Even though this is a great outcome and it’s a non-hazardous material, we look at this as a wonderful training exercise for our response … on something that could come up in our complex," he said.

Salsman said the complex should be back open Tuesday.

Investigators did not say what the powder was, only that it was non-toxic.