10 Kansas City IRS employees sickened by suspicious package

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Ten Internal Revenue Service employees in Kansas City were sickened after coming into contact with a suspicious package Friday, according to Kansas City Department spokesman James Garrett, speaking to local reporters.

Ambulances arrived on the scene in downtown Kansas City after the employees, who came into contact with the package in the mailroom, complained of symptoms that included vomiting and sweating, and two people were taken to the hospital, according to Garrett.

It is not yet determined what in the package caused the illness, but it has been isolated from the public and the Fire Department was checking it for gasses and fumes.

Garrett also told the New York Times that the injuries were believed to be “not serious at all.”

“It is a package,” Garrett told reporters of a local Fox News affiliate. “It is airborne. We don’t have reports of powder or anything like that, so whatever it was it was by smell and it was airborne.”

The building was not evacuated and normal business has resumed. The contents of the package are still unknown but the IRS is investigating.

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