JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Suspicious letters sent to a government building in downtown Jacksonville for the second day in a row. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department’s hazmat teams cleared out the Duval County Courthouse this evening just like the State Attorney’s Office on Tuesday.
The evacuation left neighbors in the area like Shawn Doyle on high alert.
“It definitely has to be taken seriously and it doesn’t surprise me these are exciting times we are living through but hopefully they can track the letters and catch them,” Doyle said.
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FBI Jacksonville said a suspicious letter was sent to the building and the letter was taken to a local laboratory to get tested for substances and there are no known injuries at this time. It comes just one day after the letters containing an unknown substance were sent to the State Attorney’s Office, which were also tested and no biological threat was detected.
Action News Jax’s law and safety expert Dale Carson has years of experience in the FBI and police force. He said this can impact both city employees and people trying to use city resources.
“First off, it closes off a part of the town, the city, and secondly you take people who could be working another project or called to other events and constrain them from those other activities,” Carson said.
Police had several streets blocked off and courthouse employees were evacuated out of the building. Carson said if someone gets caught there are some serious penalties.
“The extent it could be attributed to a terroristic attack. There’s a potential life felony to all of that,” he said.
Doyle, who lives and works near the courthouse, hopes to see this come to an end soon.
“I think there’s a lot of stuff nationwide with government buildings and this doesn’t surprise me at all. Hopefully, this is the least of it,” he said.
Even though it’s a letter, Carson said it’s a bit easier to identify who did this now rather than back in the day, saying street cameras and DNA testing can make a huge difference. FBI Jacksonville said it’s an ongoing federal investigation.
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