Santa Fe Police evacuated City Hall yesterday after an individual outside City Hall handed a city employee a suspicious package and said it was meant for Mayor Michael Garcia.
The Santa Fe Police Department’s explosive ordinance disposal team responded and SFPD closed nearby buildings and roads throughout the area, interim SFPD Chief of Police Ben Valdez said in a statement.
At approximately 4 p.m., the EOD unit rendered the suspected device safe and lockdowns were lifted. The investigation remains ongoing.
“The targeting of an elected official and the disruption of public services at Santa Fe City Hall are reprehensible acts of intimidation that will not be tolerated,” Santa Fe Mayor Michael Garcia said in a statement. “Attempts to intimidate public officials, threaten lives or interfere with the essential functions of local government are attacks on the public’s trust and our democratic institutions.”
The Santa Fe County Clerk’s office, which is also an early voting location, was one of the nearby offices placed on lockdown. Other early voting locations in the county remained open.
Across the country, packages and mail have been sent to election officials ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. Last week, federal authorities intercepted a suspicious package intended for Oregon’s election office. In Arizona andLouisiana, top state election officials evacuated their offices after receiving letters containing white powder.
Valdez noted it is unknown whether the City Hall incident is related to other suspicious package incidents in Santa Fe that EOD responded to this week: one reported incident in the Railyard area on Sunday and another on Galisteo Street on Thursday morning.
“Santa Fe will not be governed by intimidation,” Garcia said. “Those who seek to threaten our public servants and disrupt our city’s operations will be held accountable.”
