State law enforcement officials on Tuesday determined a suspicious package and letter that were delivered to a lawmaker's office and prompted the evacuation of a portion of the Texas State Capitol were not a threat.

State Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, said in a tweet Tuesday afternoon that his office was among a few that were evacuated in the underground extension of the Capitol on Tuesday morning.

"DPS has evacuated my staff in our Capitol office along with other offices in the vicinity due to a suspicious package," Schaefer said.

Austin police said they responded to a call for a suspicious package at the intersection of Lavaca and West 13th streets around 1:19 p.m., but the incident was handed off to another law enforcement agency. Police said they do not know whether that incident is related to the one Schaefer tweeted about.

Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement that the package was delivered along with a letter to a state representative's Capitol office. Officials did not say which lawmaker the package was addressed to or what were the contents of the letter.

"DPS officers, including the DPS Bomb Squad, responded to the scene, and a limited area of the Capitol Extension was evacuated as a precautionary measure. DPS has cleared the scene and no viable threat was discovered, and the area was reopened to the public," officials said in the statement.



State Rep. Poncho Nevárez, D-Eagle Pass, said someone sent his office several boxes that were packaged together like Russian nesting doll, meaning smaller boxes were placed inside each other. He said the last box had a stack of blank notecards.

Staffers noticed that Nevárez's name was misspelled on the box and written in a "juvenile and very contrived manner," he said. They sensed something was off and called the FBI, he said.

Nevárez said at the same time the package arrived, the FBI had come to his law office in Eagle Pass to tell him that he had been extensively researched by the bombing suspect, Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr., who was arrested on Friday for sending pipe bombs to at least 12 of President Trump's critics.

The Democratic lawmaker was among a list of potential targets, he said.

"It's weird to think that somebody somewhere is spending some amount of time thinking about you to do something very horrible to you," Nevárez said by phone Wednesday.

DPS has evacuated my staff in our Capitol office along with other offices in the vicinity due to a suspicious package. If phones are not answered, leave a message.

— Matt Schaefer (@RepMattSchaefer)October 30, 2018