Arizona Supreme Court evacuated after package containing explosive substance found

By Steve Gorman

Jan 5 (Reuters) – A suspicious package believed to contain an explosive material turned up in the mail room of the Arizona Supreme Court on Monday, prompting an evacuation of the courthouse and other Capitol Mall buildings near downtown Phoenix, officials said.

No injuries were reported in the incident, which began at 8 a.m. (1500 GMT) when the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which provides security for the courthouse complex, was contacted about a suspicious package, the agency said in statement.

The package was found to contain multiple vials, two of which tested positive for an unspecified “homemade explosive substance,” according to the statement.

The State Courts Building, which houses the Supreme Court and Division One of the state Court of Appeals, was evacuated as a precaution, along with the state Education Department, the state Attorney General’s Office and the Arizona Department of Administration, DPS spokesperson Bart Graves said.

Graves said the Supreme Court was not in session at the time.

The courthouse remained closed while security sweeps of the building were conducted. Graves said authorities were in the process of removing the package from the scene in late afternoon for further investigation and subsequent disposal.

No further official information about the package was provided, but local news media outlets reported that the parcel in question bore no return address label. Graves declined to say how or when the parcel arrived or whether it contained a device capable of exploding.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)