Seven employees and a Denver police officer were washed down with decontamination fluid in the parking lot of a UMB Bank on Sunday after several capsules containing a mysterious powder were found in the mail.
Authorities tested the powder contained in five white-and-yellow capsules and determined the substance was not a weapon of mass destruction such as anthrax.
However, tests came back positive for a biological material of some kind, Denver fire Lt. Phil Champagne said. The powder could have been something as harmless as an herb or supplement from a health store, he said.
But as a precaution, the employees were scrubbed in a puffy orange tent and sent home in a hazardous- materials suit because the substance was still unknown Sunday evening. One of the female employees cried on her way out of the decontamination tent, where she was required to strip naked and get scrubbed down by a hazardous-materials team.
The police officer also was decontaminated because he came in contact with the employees when he answered the 911 call.
The UMB Bank, in the 6900 block of East Hampden Avenue, processes payments for businesses and utility companies. Someone sent the capsules in an envelope usually reserved for payments, said Heather K. Miller, spokeswoman for the bank.
The mail was delivered Sunday by a private courier from the Denver postal distribution center, said John Salanitro, U.S. postal inspector for the Denver division.
The employees were processing the mail shortly before 8 a.m. when they came across the capsules and called police. They waited several hours in a quarantined zone in the parking lot to hear if they were at risk as authorities tested the material.
“They are being good-spirited about it,” Miller said.
While the mail was being processed through a machine, the yellow capsules broke open, leaving a macaroni-and-cheese-colored residue, Champagne said.
The capsules were inside an envelope mailed to the bank, but it did not contain money, a threat, a letter or a return address, Champagne said.
None of the employees showed signs of illness, he said.
The person who sent the capsules may not have targeted the bank because sometimes payments intended for other companies are sent to the bank where the money is collected, Miller said.
Initial tests were conducted by Denver firefighters and came back positive for a biological material. The Civilian Support Team from Buckley Air Force Base was called in to do further testing, and those results supported what Denver firefighters found in the first round, Champagne said.
The tests also ruled out substances such as talcum powder, aspirin and other common medications.
Several federal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the FBI and the U.S. Army, joined about 40 Denver firefighters and 18 police officers at the scene.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
