Terrorism scare closes Stevens Way, parts of Padelford

Roads were closed and Seattle Fire Department firefighters donned brown hazardous materials suits testing for a whitish-gray substance found in a Spanish department lecturer's mailbox.



Tests by the SFD found no known hazardous substance after testing the material, according to Jorge Gonzalez, who found the substance in his mailbox and called the police at 9:47 a.m.



"There is no reason any one at the UW would hate me," said Gonzalez.



For an hour and a half the stretch of Stevens Way between Pend Orielle Road and Hall Health was closed and two fire engines, an ambulance and two other SFD vehicles lined the area.



Hundreds of students, faculty and staff were pushed across the street while the area around Gonzalez' office on the second floor was evacuated and no one was allowed to enter the building until just before noon while a team tested the substance near Padelford's main entrance.



Gonzalez said he had no idea whether the substance, which was in between a folded piece of pink paper, was meant as a threat, a joke or an accident.



UW Police Department officials said that there would not be an investigation into the incident, citing that there have been more than 400 similar cases in the last two years in the Seattle area.