Twenty-eight people were hospitalized Monday afternoon to be examined after possibly inhaling a suspicious substance inside the Second District Appellate Court building in downtown Elgin, authorities said. Elgin spokeswoman Sue Olafson said a clerk in the courthouse at 55 Symphony Way opened an incoming envelope about 11:20 a.m. that turned out to be filled with a white powder and a "threatening letter." Court officials summoned firefighters, who were treating the case as a hazardous-materials incident.
As of 6 p.m., FBI officials were on the scene and planned to test the powdery substance, Olafson said. Initial tests by Elgin's HazMat team had ruled out anthrax, Ricin and botulism, she said, but the FBI requires 72 hours to complete the testing.
The courthouse will remain closed for those three days "as a precautionary measure," Olafson said in an email.
Earlier, Olafson said about 3:30 p.m. that 28 people who were inside the building when the powder was discovered were being decontaminated by a series of washes. They then would be dressed in clean clothes and taken by a fleet of ambulances from several area fire departments to hospitals to be checked out “just as a precaution,” she said.
None showed signs of illness, she said. Read More
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