Suspicious letter checked; no threat
Item was sent to Catholic center on St. Pius X campus
The Archdiocese of Santa Fe on the St. Pius X High School campus received a letter with a suspicious substance and other items in it, but authorities quickly determined it was not a threat.
The school itself, on Coors and St. Josephs NW, was not affected, but students eating lunch in the cafeteria were evacuated during the investigation, principal Barbara Rothweiler said.
“We’re not locked down,” she said. “We’re doing business as usual; the only thing that was disrupted for us is lunch.”
Rothweiler said the school ordered pizza for students who didn’t get to eat in the cafeteria. No one from the Archdiocese could be reached for comment.
Simon Drobik, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said officers were attending Coffee With a Cop at the Archdioceses’s Catholic Center Tuesday morning when they were approached by an employee who said a strange letter was received the previ-
ous day.
“Officers recognized it as suspicious,” Drobik said. “They were not going to take any chances, so they called in hazmat.”
Albuquerque Fire Rescue hazmat crews tested the substance and determined it was not hazardous, and other items in the envelope were not a threat, AFR spokesman Tom Ruiz said. He would not say what the items or the substance were.
Drobik said the letter will be tested for fingerprints. No suspects have been named.