Detroit Senator Carl Levin’s Office Evacuated After ‘Suspicious Letter’ Found; Bomb Squads Called To Hart and Russell Senate Office

The offices of Senator Carl Levin have been evacuated after a staff member found what they considered a suspicious letter, according to a Detroit news report. Additionally, NBC News tweeted that the Washington, D.C. office of Alabama Senator Richard Shelby confirmed that Capitol Police were investigating a suspicious package in Shelby's office, in the Russell Senate Building.

There were also reports that a man had been detained at the Hart Senate Office Building. CNN reports that the man raised suspicion for the contents of his backpack and his responses to police questions. The backpack contained sealed envelopes and was being x-rayed. A federal law enforcement official told CNN that the man was not believed to be connected to letters containing ricin which were sent to President Obama and a Mississippi Senator on Tuesday.

An alert was sent out informing staff at the Hart Office Building that Capitol Police were investigating a suspicious package on the Atrium of that building.

A second alert was also sent by the Capitol Police at 11:33am, regarding another suspicious package in the Russell Office Building. Benny Johnson, an editor at Buzzfeed, posted the alert on his Twitter account. "The U.S. Capitol Police are responding to a suspicious envelope on the third floor of the Russell Senate Office Building," it read. "All staff and other personnel are directed to avoid this area until further notice."

Bomb squads are reported to be on the scene at both the Hart and Russell Senate buildings.

In Senator Carl Levin's office in Saginaw, Michigan, a hazardous material team was called to the scene and the building was evacuated. The staff member was transported to the hospital to have his condition evaluated. The FBI is investigating.

The office closings come as authorities are on high alert after the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday. On Tuesday, letters containing ricin, a highly toxic substance for which no antidote exists, were sent to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicken and President Barack Obama. The letter to Senator Wicken reportedly had a Memphis, Tennessee, postmark and no return address. Both letters were directed on Tuesday to off-site postal facilities set up after the 2001 anthrax attacks and are now undergoing further tests at laboratories.

A ricin scare previously hit the Capitol in 2004, when tests identified a letter in a Senate mailroom that served then-Majority Leader Bill Frist's office. 16 of Frist's employees were forced to go through decontamination procedures, though no ill effects were reported afterward.