MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Florida police were investigating two suspicious packages mailed Wednesday to the office of Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, hours after authorities intercepted potential explosives intended for prominent Democrats including ex-president Barack Obama.
Local media showed images of a bomb squad unit from the Broward Sheriff’s Office, which confirmed it was at her building in the south Florida town of Sunrise, around 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Miami.
“ALERT!!! We are working an investigation of a suspicious package near Sawgrass Corporate Parkway,” Sunrise police said on Twitter.
A few hours later police in the nearby town of Aventura said they were investigating a second package mailed to Wasserman Schultz’s in a local government building.
The streets surrounding both offices were closed down, and police and firefighters swarmed the areas.
The package sent to the Sunrise office was addressed to former attorney general Eric Holder, local media reported.
The return address was Wasserman Schultz’s office — and since Holder could not be reached, the post office sent it to the Sunrise office.
“This kind of targeted hate and violence has no place in our country and will not be tolerated,” said Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo.
“This isn’t about politics, this is about national security and our number one concern is the safety of Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz and first responders called to these scenes,” she added.
Rizzo bemoaned the “highly divisive and toxic rhetoric” used during the period leading to November 6 midterm congressional elections.
The news came after suspected explosive devices were sent to Hillary Clinton, the defeated Democratic nominee in the 2016 presidential election, and Obama, who was succeeded by President Donald Trump in January 2017.
A building housing CNN’s New York bureau was also targeted in the incidents, which came just days after an explosive device was found in the mailbox at the New York home of US billionaire and liberal donor George Soros, a target of right-wing groups.
The package mailed to CNN also had Wasserman Schultz’s name and the address of her office as the sender, US media reported.
Wasserman Schultz resigned following a five-year stint as Democratic Party chair following a leak of emails in 2016 suggesting an insider attempt to hobble the campaign of Clinton’s rival in the White House primaries, Bernie Sanders.
© Agence France-Presse