PITTSBURGH — Cocaine in an envelope spurred a HAZMAT response at the Peoples Natural Gas Building in Pittsburgh, according to Channel 11 sources.
Assistant Chief Brian Kokkila of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire says the HAZMAT team was called to the building on North Shore Drive at 3:11 p.m. on Wednesday.
Two people reportedly interacted with the envelope, which contained a white, powdery substance.
The envelope itself was addressed to Peoples Natural Gas.
It happened on the building’s sixth floor, Kokkila said. Other employees sheltered in place and moved to different parts of the building.
Kokkila said the substance was ultimately identified as a narcotic.
11 Investigates sources tell us the substance was cocaine.
Pittsburgh medics evaluated and treated the two people, who’ve since been medically cleared.
A similar incident happened at the Peoples Natural Gas building in October, a spokesperson for the company said. It’s unclear if the two incidents are related.
Pittsburgh police are now investigating.
Channel 11’s Rich Pierce spoke with Luke Raymundo, who works in the building.
“Just got an email saying the building was on lockdown, so that’s pretty much it,” Raymundo said. “We didn’t really know what was going on. Apparently it was a suspicious package that was delivered.”
Pierce asked him, “Does that worry you when you hear something like that?”
“A little bit, yeah. It’s like, what’s going on here? What’s being delivered here?” Raymundo said.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW