Police are investigating after someone mailed an envelope of flour to Peoples Natural Gas on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, authorities said.

An employee in the sixth-floor mailroom opened an envelope around 9:30 a.m. Monday and a “white powdery substance fell out of it,” said police spokeswoman Cara Cruz.

Hazmat and EMS crews responded and ultimately determined the powder was flour. The North Shore Drive building was not evacuated, though employees on the sixth floor briefly sheltered in place.

Ms. Cruz said police will investigate the incident as “possibly a terroristic threat of sorts.

“Even though it is flour, it caused this response,” she said, gesturing to the multiple fire, EMS and hazmat trucks that responded to the scene.

In 2001, five people died and 17 others were sickened after

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