"Your establishment has been targeted," the letter addressed to "Owner/Manager" begins. "I have in my possession approximately 67 grams of ricin with which I will indiscriminately target at least five of your clients."
Qnews update: Seattle police and FBI respond to threats against gay bars 10-Jan-09
Although they are hoping this is just a horrible prank, Seattle Police told KING 5 News that they're taking the threat seriously, and are working with the FBI to investigate.
Officers have collected all 11 letters sent to the bars, according to KING 5.
"We are actively investigating and coordinating with the FBI and other federal partners," Seattle Police said in a statement, but KING 5 reports that the joint terrorism task force has not been called into the investigation.
Letters threaten to poison customers at 11 Seattle gay bars [contd.]
"I just had the police come pick [the letter] up," Keith Christensen, the manager of the Eagle, told the Stranger Tuesday afternoon. Christensen had already heard about the letter from other bar owners and managers, and so he didn't open it.
At the Seattle Eagle Tuesday night, it was hard to miss the signs warning people to keep a close eye on their drinks, KING 5 TV reports.
Eagle bartender Michael Gilmore told KING 5 that he got the letter Tuesday afternoon and recognized what it was. "It had a typed label on the front of it, it was taped to the front, no return address on it or anything."
Other bar owners contacted by the Stranger said they had also turned over their copies of the letter to police. "They collected the letter and that's about it. I don't think it's anything to worry about it," Roland, manager of Madison Pub, told the Stranger.
The Stranger's editorial director, Dan Savage, also reports that a related letter was sent to the paper:
A letter also arrived in The Stranger's offices, addressed to the attention of "Obituaries." The letter's author said the paper should "be prepared to announce the deaths of approximately 55 individuals all of whom were patrons of the following establishments on a Saturday in January."
The listed bars are: the Elite, Neighbours, Wild Rose, the Cuff, Purr, the Eagle, R Place, Re-bar, CC's, Madison Pub, and the Crescent.
"I could take this moment to launch into a diatribe about my indignation towards the gay community," the letter concludes, "however, I think the deaths will speak for themselves."
The letters sent to the bars claims, "Each location will have at least five targets."
It states, "I expect them to die painfully while in hospital," and claims, "This is merely your warning for which you can do nothing to prevent me."
Carla, the owner/manager of Purr, told the Stranger, ""I felt sick when I read it. It's so vile. It's just hatred."
Ricin is a poison that occurs naturally in castor beans. Although details of the process used to extract the poison from the beans was removed from a US Patent Office database in 2004, the process is described in documents still available on the web, according to a Wikipedia entry. It can be poisonous if sufficient quantities are inhaled, injected, or ingested. According to the CDC, "ricin could be used to expose people through the air, food, or water."
According to the CDC, symptoms of ricin poisoning by ingestion would include "vomiting and diarrhea that may become bloody." Symptoms might also include "hallucinations, seizures, and blood in the urine."
Poisoning caused by ingesting what the CDC describes as "a significant amount" of the poison could cause the person's liver, spleen, and kidneys to stop working, possibly leading to death.
There's no antidote for ricin, but treatment of symptoms is possible.
Source: Seattle Gay Bars Receive Threatening Letters | The Stranger
Poison threats mailed to Seattle gay bars | KING5 TV
hattip: SeattleGayScene