UES School Is Latest To Receive Suspicious White Powder Envelope

Upper East Side NY

22 March, 2021

12:55 PM

Description

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Another suspicious envelope containing a white powder was received by a Manhattan school on Monday — this time, sent to the address of the Spence School's business office, according to police. Around 10:27 a.m., a 911 caller reported a suspicious substance at 74 East 91st St., a building near Park Avenue that houses Spence's business office and sits about a block east from the main building of the private, all-girls school. Two building staff who discovered the envelope were evacuated, but there were no injuries and no children were exposed, police said. Police did not specify whether Spence was the intended target and could not immediately say whether Monday's package was part of the string of similar packages that have been mailed to at least 9 Manhattan schools since March 10. In all cases, the contents of each envelope were determined to be non-hazardous, designed to "cause disruption and alarm" rather than injury, police said last week. As of last week, each school had received a plain white envelope with a U.S. flag stamp and an address written in block letters, containing the unidentified white powder. All were sent through the U.S. Postal Service. According to the Daily News, the first five schools involved were: Robert F. Wagner Middle School on East 76th Street, Montclare Children's School preschool on Amsterdam Avenue, River Park Nursery School near West 95th Street, the High School of the Liberal Arts on East 33rd Street, and the NY Kids Club preschool on Amsterdam Avenue. At least one of the schools, River Park, was evacuated Tuesday after the package was found. Police asked anyone with information about the packages to contact the NYC Terrorism Hotline at 888-NYC-SAFE. Anyone who receives a suspicious package should call 911, police said.