Some residents in Northeast D.C. discovered a mysterious white powder on their car handles on Monday.

First responders responded to 911 calls from residents and blocked off traffic on 36th Street NE, near Minnesota Avenue.

Hazmat workers moved in to test the substance and found that it was unbleached flour.

Neighbors were relieved to discover the substance wasn’t something more deadly, like anthrax.

“I said ‘Don’t touch the door handles, there’s a white powdery substance on them!’ Anthrax or cyanide powder doesn’t care who you are the moment it touches your skin, it’s game over,” resident Terry Brocks told WUSA90.

Mr. Brocks caught a suspect on camera. According to authorities, Mr. Brock’s surveillance camera captured a woman spreading the powder on the driver and passenger door handles of parked cars sometime around 10 a.m. Police have not arrested a suspect.

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.