Suspicious letters sent to 3 Maryland synagogues; no hazardous materials found

Three synagogues in Baltimore County reported receiving suspicious letters Monday, CBS news reported.

Images of the letter posted online by the outlet appeared to show religious rhetoric.

Hazmat crews and police were dispatched to examine the packages, which were later determined not to contain dangerous substances.

The first report came from the Beth El Synagogue, where two staff members said they felt unwell after opening the letter.

https://twitter.com/GeorgeSolisWJZ/status/1074812112873119745

“They opened some kind of an envelope that arrived, I believe, through the mail, and they immediately began complaining of feeling ill,” said Elise Armacost, a Baltimore County Fire Department spokesperson.

Thirty-three staff members and 78 children were inside the building at the time, the Baltimore Sun newspaper reported, but staff told concerned parents that no threat was posed to the kindergartens on site.

In the second incident, police responded to the Beth Isaac Adath Israel Congregation in Crest Heights after staff reported a package had arrived.

The third package was received at the Har Sinai Congregation a week ago, but synagogue officials reported it Monday after they heard similar packages had been received at the other two temples.

The FBI told the Baltimore Sun that the agency was monitoring the situation, declining to provide further details.

The letters come at a time of heightened security, just weeks after the deadly shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue in which Robert Bowers opened fire with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons, killing eight men and three women before a tactical police team tracked him down and shot him.

He apparently posted an anti-Semitic message on a social media account linked to him just a few minutes before he opened fire.

He expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and later told police that “I just want to kill Jews” and that “all these Jews need to die,” authorities said.