Powder in Bronx building with Rep. Ritchie Torres' office was not hazardous, FDNY says, as suspicious letters target NY senators

A white powder discovered in a mailed envelope Friday afternoon at a Bronx building that houses Rep. Ritchie Torres' district office was not hazardous, fire officials said, a day after federal authorities began investigating suspicious letters sent to lawmakers and election offices across the country, including both of New York's U.S. senators.

What happened on Fordham Road

The envelope was found at 540 E. Fordham Road, between Lorillard Place and Bathgate Avenue, early Friday afternoon, ABC7 and News 12 reported. Torres' office told News 12 that it received an envelope with a suspicious substance and that the NYPD was testing it. Police said it was not yet clear whom the envelope was addressed to.

Six people were exposed to the powder, but none showed symptoms, the FDNY said. Its hazmat team and the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit responded and set up a perimeter, and people were asked to avoid the area around East Fordham Road and Lorillard Place. After an investigation, the substance was deemed not hazardous, according to the FDNY. No injuries were reported.

Officials have not said whether the envelope is connected to the wider federal investigation.

Letters to New York's senators

On Thursday afternoon, a suspicious piece of mail addressed to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's New York City office "was safely intercepted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service," Gillibrand said in a statement, thanking postal inspectors for protecting her staff. A spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told News 12 that an envelope addressed to him in connection with the letters was also intercepted by authorities.

The FBI, the Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Capitol Police are investigating letters with "suspicious substances" mailed to congressional and election offices nationwide and have urged recipients to treat them as potentially hazardous, News 12 reported, citing The Associated Press. Letters also went to Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Alex Padilla of California and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, according to News 12 and the BBC. Most of the senators' letters were intercepted before delivery.

"Some of the letters have contained an unknown substance," Brendan Donahue, a deputy chief inspector with the Postal Inspection Service, said, according to USA Today Network reporting. He said investigators are working to identify whoever sent them. Election offices in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Delaware reported receiving letters with a white powder, the BBC said, and it reported that the New York State Capitol in Albany also received a suspicious package, citing emergency scanner traffic it reviewed.

The mailings come less than three weeks before the Nov. 3 election. No injuries had been reported nationwide as of Thursday, according to USA Today Network.