FBI searches apartment in poison ricin letter case

SPOKANE, Wash. — Authorities in hazardous materials suits searched a downtown Spokane apartment on Saturday, investigating the recent discovery of a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin.

Few details have been released in the case, and no arrests have been made.

Federal investigators have been searching for the person who sent the letters, which were postmarked Tuesday in Spokane.

The letters were addressed to the downtown post office and the adjacent federal building, but authorities have not released a potential motive.

They also have not said whether the letters targeted anyone in particular.

Ricin is a highly toxic substance made from castor beans.

As little as 500 micrograms, the size of the head of a pin, can kill an adult if inhaled or ingested.

There have been no reports of illness connected to the letters.

FBI agents, Spokane police and US Postal Service inspectors descended on the three-story apartment building on Saturday morning and the investigation continued into the afternoon.

Investigation

FBI spokeswoman Ayn Sandalo Dietrich would not say whether agents were questioning anyone in connection with the case.

“We are not actively looking for a subject,” Sandalo Dietrich said. “We are not asking the public’s help in bringing someone in.”

Despite the hazmat suits, officials said apartment residents were not at risk, and people were seen coming in and out of the brick building in the city’s historic Browne’s Addition neighborhood.

“There’s no public risk,” Sandalo Dietrich said.

Scott Ward has lived in the building for three years, and lives on the second floor near the apartment that was being searched.

He said he does not know the neighbor who lives in that apartment.

“He’s a guy with a big beard,” Ward said. “He sticks to himself.”

“He doesn’t talk,” said Ward, who added he was awakened about 7 a.m. by the sounds of “banging and what sounded like a big vacuum.”

Building resident Jim Lehman said he was asleep when he was called by a friend.

“He said, ‘hey Jim, you’re surrounded,’” Lehman said. (AP)