Members of the Garland Health Department Mobile Lab prepare to enter the Laura Lee Blanton Building Friday afternoon. (Sarah Acosta)
A suspicious envelope, which turned out to be filled with a cooking spice, caused an evacuation of the Laura Lee Blanton building Friday afternoon.
An employee in the mailroom fell ill, which sparked an evacuation of the building around 12:40 p.m. this afternoon.
According to SMU officials, the male employee was going through the mail and had a dark colored substance fall out of a corner of an envelope. The employee had a small cut on his hand, which became irritated when the spice fell into it.
The irritation triggered the call to authorities, and the University Park Fire Department was called and responded to the situation.
“As is usual procedure for SMU, we act out of an abundance of caution,” said Associate Vice President for Public Affairs Patti LaSalle. “With a mailroom that handles 3.5 million pieces of mail a year, this type of situation may arise.”
The employee did not require hospitalization, and his reaction was temporary.
The UPFD immediately called the Garland Health Department mobile lab, which did the on-site testing of the substance.
According to a statement from SMU, SMU Police will have the results submitted for further testing by the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department.
A final report is expected by Monday.
Police officers taped off the building and stood in front to make sure no one entered once it was evacuated.
Many employees were just coming back from lunch to discover they could not go back to work. People gathered outside the building and waited until 2 p.m. when officials asked them to disperse.
Lisa Bishop, an employee in Blanton, said that around 12:45 p.m. an announcement throughout the building was issued telling everyone to safely evacuate.
Some employees thought the announcement was a drill.
The Garland mobile lab arrived at 2:15 p.m. and began setting up to enter from the lower south end of the building. The lab sent two men dressed in protective gear into the building around 3:20 p.m.
– Mark Norris contributed to this report
