Suspicious package temporarily shuts down IRS office

The discovery of a suspicious package caused a 1,000-employee IRS office in Covington, Ky., to go on full lockdown for approximately six hours Tuesday afternoon, according to an agency spokesman. An IRS employee discovered the package at about 9 a.m., said spokesman Chris Kearns, and immediately alerted agency officials. The package was immediately quarantined and within 15 minutes local police, fire and hazardous materials officials were on the scene. The building was then put on lockdown and employees were not allowed to enter or leave the building until 3 p.m., according to Kearns, though agency operations did not stop. "We conducted business as usual," he said. "People were working as normal, but people could not leave and could not come in." While Kearns said the building usually houses about 1,000 employees, only seven employees came into contact with the package. They were taken to a local hospital and later released. Preliminary laboratory information indicates that the package contained a non-toxic substance. "These are situations that we've trained for," Kearns explained. "We had an exercise two months ago and coordinated with all the local agencies and the FBI, so all of this information was very fresh in our minds." The federal employee who found the package and alerted IRS officials was recognized as a "very alert employee, who identified this and took all the proper steps," said Kearns. The Covington location is the site of the Cincinnati service center, which processes tax returns for 17 states.