Authorities identified the mysterious white powder sent in the mail to a Republican member of the Montana state House as flour on Monday, NBC's KTVH-DT 12 reported.
House Majority Leader Sue Vinton, a Republican from Billings, was one of four Republicans in the lower chamber to receive an envelope with white powder. As of Monday evening, the other three powders have not been identified.
"I want to sincerely thank the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Department and the Billings Fire Department's Hazmat Team for their very quick and decisive work on this matter," Vinton stated.
"They handled it professionally and rapidly, and I'm relieved to learn the white powder contained in the letter sent to me was nothing harmful," she added.
The first two suspicious letters containing unknown white powder were reported Friday, being sent to Republican state Reps. Neil Duram of Eureka and Rhonda Knudsen of Culbertson.
A letter addressed to House Speaker Matt Regier, a Republican from Kalispell, was found Monday around the same time as Vinton's. It was subsequently turned over to the Montana Highway Patrol.
The Montana Department of Justice confirmed that its Division of Criminal Investigation is working alongside local law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to get to the bottom of the matter.
"This appears to be a deliberate attempt to deliberately stoke public fear and interrupt our government process," DCI Administrator Bryan Lockerby said. "We're working very closely with the FBI and our local law enforcement to ensure the safety of our elected officials and the public."
The Associated Press noted over the weekend that Republican officials in Tennessee and Kansas recently received similar letters, with a legislative office building in Nashville even getting temporarily locked down Thursday.
The FBI has indicated that ongoing lab tests do not indicate any risk to public safety for the powder inside the letters found in Tennessee and Kansas, according to AP.
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