Associated Press: Police
have a suspect in mind as they investigate a letter mailed to Sen.
Roger Wicker that tested positive for poisonous ricin, a Senate
colleague said.
“The person that is a suspect writes a lot of letters to members,”
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Tuesday as she emerged from a
classified briefing.
Authorities declined to comment on a suspect or any other aspect of
the investigation being led by Capitol Police and the FBI after tests
indicated that a letter mailed to the Mississippi Republican’s
Washington office contained the potentially deadly toxin. The letter was
intercepted at a Senate mail facility in Prince George’s County, Md.,
just outside Washington, said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a member of the
Senate’s Democratic leadership.
The letter’s discovery shook the U.S. Capitol, where several events
were canceled Tuesday in response to Monday’s Boston bombing that killed
three people, injured more than 170 and ignited fresh fears of
terrorism. There was no evidence of a connection between the two events.
A possible reason for the letter’s interception: it had no return
address, which sends up huge read flags in the Capitol mail room. It may
be that the sender wanted the letter intercepted or it may be that the
sender was not savvy enough to realize this would be a problem. Either
explanation would seem to point away from organized terrorism.
