Close Call: Arizona Supreme Court Evacuated After Package Tests Positive For Explosives

This could have ended horrifically.

On Monday, the Arizona Supreme Court was evacuated after a package inside the building tested positive for explosives.

The package was reported to the authorities after a staff member of the Supreme Court opened it and found various vials containing a mysterious substance.

AZ Family broke the story of the explosive package being found outside the Supreme Court:

The Arizona Supreme Court building near downtown Phoenix was evacuated while authorities investigated a package that tested positive for explosives on Monday morning.

Court officials say the situation began when staff found a suspicious package with no return label in the building’s mailroom, near 15th Avenue and Washington Street. The Arizona Department of Public Safety says troopers and other law enforcement responded, and that the package contained multiple vials, including two that tested positive for “homemade explosives.”

Officials haven’t said when the package was delivered or where it came from.

The building was evacuated shortly after 10:30 a.m., and all 500 people who work at the Arizona Supreme Court were sent home. The Arizona Department of Education, located across the street, was also evacuated.

Early Monday afternoon, a trained technician wearing protective gear carried the explosive device out of the Arizona Supreme Court and placed it inside a containment unit in the shape of a sphere. A police motorcade escorted it to a safe location to be detonated, DPS said.

Alberto Rodriguez, communications director with the Arizona Supreme Court, says he was inside the building when staff were told to evacuate.

“When they notified all staff that we needed to evacuate, I think there was a lot of questions that we didn’t necessarily know about, speaking as a general employee of the Supreme Court. We’re just following directions,” Rodriguez described.

“I don’t want to speak on behalf of any of my colleagues, but personally, it’s just one of those things where it doesn’t feel good when it gets to your workplace. You hear about it all the time, but it’s unfortunate that it reached the Arizona Supreme Court, where we had to have this evacuation,” he added.

Here’s a video of the outside of the courthouse:

🚨#BREAKING: A Phoenix Arizona Supreme Court building has been evacuated due to a hazardous situation after a suspicious package was found which tested positive for homemade explosives. pic.twitter.com/kkg1DGoSAP

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) January 5, 2026

More footage:

⁦@Arizona_DPS⁩ investigating reports of a suspicious device near the Arizona State Supreme Court building 15th Ave & Jefferson. Authorities have evacuated several buildings and the bomb squad is on scene #fox10phoenix pic.twitter.com/5eLgPkGI2u

— Rick Davis (@rdavisfox10) January 5, 2026

This is a developing story…

What do you feel?