This story was updated at 6:35 p.m.
BURLINGTON — Vermont State Police bomb squad and Burlington Police responded to a report of a suspicious package at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office Thursday.
Sanders’ Church Street office and the building it is in was evacuated, BPD Deputy Chief Jon Murad said.
“Out of an abundance of caution we evacuated his offices and the building as we assess it,” Murad said.
Burlington Police received a call about the package, which came in the mail, from Sanders staff at 11:42 a.m.
The Vermont State Police gave the all clear around 5:15 p.m., Murad said.
“The suspicious package was deemed harmless by the Vermont State Police,” Murad said. “We have been able to ascertain it was not an explosive device and that we can safely have that building open up again to people.”
Murad would not describe the package or say why staffers believed it to be suspicious, citing the U.S. Postal Service’s ongoing investigation into the package.
He said there are number of factors that make a package suspicious, including addresses that are slightly off, intended recipients who no longer work at the office, packages with too much postage, packages closed or taped in strange ways or packages that have signage or symbolism indicative of trouble.
“It met many of those things, and that is why we spent so much time looking at it,” Murad said.
Another suspicious package was delivered to Sanders’ St. Johnsbury office earlier this month, prompting a response from police, firefighters and state hazmat crews.
St. Johnsbury’s fire chief said an electronics company had sent the empty box so the senator’s staff could return something.
