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HazMat teams investigate suspicious powdery substances at 2 Naples locations

Tuesday, October 9, 2001

By GINA EDWARDS, gvedwards@naplesnews.com

Officials from local hazardous materials teams are currently responding to two Anthrax scares, one at the Fifth Third Bank at 4099 Ninth Street North and the other at the Cummings & Lockwood law firm at 3001 Ninth Street North.

Employees at both locations discovered white substances in mail delivery packs there, authorities said. The substances haven't been confirmed as the deadly anthrax virus.

"You have to assume it's anthrax or something suspicious but it's probably nothing," Collier County Emergency Management Director Ken Pineau said.

Emergency dispatch officers were called by Fifth Third Bank workers at about 9:28 a.m. after an employee there discovered a white substance in an envelope.

At least eight people were potentially exposed at Fifth Third, and about 20 people at Fifth Third are being quarantined as part of procedures set in motion to deal with a potential anthrax scare, Naples police spokesman Victor Morales said.

At Cummings & Lockwood law firm, as many as 150 people are being detained inside the building and some of them may have been exposed. As of 11:30 a.m., units from the North Naples fire department's Hazmat team were putting on biohazard suits and preparing to enter the Cummings & Lockwood building within the hour.

A sticky white substance was found in a mail delivery pack at Cummings & Lockwood, North Naples Fire Chief James Tobin said.

Emergency officials received a call from Cummings & Lockwood at 10:21 a.m.

The local office of the FBI is located in the same building complex as Cummings & Lockwood, but officials at the scene said they have no reason to suspect that the FBI office was a target.

Naples police officers have also been dispatched to Naples-area post office locations as part of the scare, Morales said.

The FBI is also on the scene.

Shortly before noon, it was reported that the people in the law office building were being decontaminated in a hazmat tent and would be taken to Naples Community Hospital.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001

Answers

Think this is part of the "Chicago and Florida will be next" prediction?

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001

Brooks,

Based upon what is at TB and at Freepers, there are more than at Naples. Either someone is sick and twisted and picked the wrong time to play pranks, or this could be part of that plan.

Heaven help the person when caught if it is just someone playing pranks. The mind is a strong thing, and knowing many people, just seeing the powder would make them "get sick".

apoc

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001

from TB...Monday but all may be related

Tuesday, October 9, 2001

By SONJA BJELLAND, skbjelland@naplesnews.com

A south Fort Myers Arby's was shut down Monday after workers and diners had to be evacuated when a bag and a note implying hazardous materials were inside was found at the fast-food restaurant.

Nine people who had contact with the bag or note were taken as a precaution to area hospitals, where they were treated and released. Someone called Lee County 911 emergency dispatchers at 12:53 p.m. Monday saying somebody had left a bag at the Arby's on U.S. 41 South, said Deputy Larry King of the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators were trying to determine who made the 911 call concerning the note found next to the bag, which appeared to be empty, King said. Details about what the note said were not disclosed Monday.

"If there was a substance (in the bag or on the note), they will take a look at it," King said.

The bag and the note will be taken to the state Department of Health laboratory in Tampa for a microbiological exam, said Judith Hartner, the director of the Lee County Health Department.

"The risk, if there is any, is to those who were in the building," she said. "We know how to contact those people if there is any indication they need to follow up."

The restaurant will remain closed until tests on the note and bag are completed. Testing may take 48 hours or more.

South Trail firefighters were one of the first rescue teams on the scene, said spokeswoman Christine Knudsen. The firefighters entered the location wearing decontamination suits and evacuated eight people from inside the Arby's including patrons and workers as a precautionary measure.

U.S. 41 was subsequently closed for about a half hour. Witnesses said two men possibly of Middle East descent and one white woman, sat in proximity to where the note and bag were found, King said. Authorities are looking for anyone who was in the restaurant before the bag and note were discovered who might have information. FBI agent Sara Oates said the agency, which is investigating, would release more information when the case is resolved.

Workers and emergency respondents who touched the bag or the note had to be cleansed in case of possible contamination.

Nine people who came in contact with the bag were hosed down in their clothes at the scene. They were then stripped of their clothes and hosed off again, said Jeff Doucette, system director of emergency services at Lee Memorial Health Systems. Later, all nine were transported to Cape Coral Hospital for review by an emergency room physician.

Two other people from the restaurant went through the same decontamination process at the hospital. Doucette said doctors were looking for signs of respiratory or neurological damage, but none was found.

All 11 were released Monday evening.

"We are looking forward to reopening the restaurant but will not do so until all federal and local officials are in agreement that all employees and customers are safe," according to a statement from Arby's.

Eight members of the Fort Myers Hazardous Materials team responded to the incident.

"I guess we're at the point that if you see someone leave a package, the best thing is to report it to local law enforcement," said Randy Jordan, assistant chief of the Fort Myers Fire Department. "The key is not to panic."

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001

via Drudge Posted at 5:50 PM Central

Suspicious Incident at Md. Subway

The Associated Press Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2001; 1:19 p.m. EDT

TEMPLE HILLS, Md. –– A Metro subway station just outside Washington was closed Tuesday after an armed man scuffled with a police officer and a jar with an unknown substance fell onto the platform, officials said.

Fire department hazardous-material teams in protective rubber suits responded after several people reported being sick.

Mark Brady, a Prince George's County Fire Department spokesman, said a man dispensed some type of product in the subway station.

"That product made people on the train sick, with dry throats and nausea," he said. About 15 people were isolated.

Officials who run the Metro subway system said a scuffle broke out between a transit officer and man on a train after the passenger pulled a knife and gun. The train stopped at the Southern Avenue station on the Green Line and the fight continued onto the platform.

Transit police took the man into custody. Officials said the officer and the armed man were not injured.

© Copyright 2001 The Associated Press

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001

Posted here at 11:00 PM Central

Suspicious Incident Temporarily Shuts Down Metro Station in Maryland Suburb of Washington By Laurie Kellman Associated Press Writer

Published: Oct 9, 2001

TEMPLE HILLS, Md. (AP) - An armed man sprayed a substance into a subway station Tuesday during a scuffle with police, leaving some 35 passengers and transit workers suffering from nausea, headaches and sore throats. Authorities said it did not appear to be a terrorist act.

"It appears at this point to be an isolated incident," said Prince Georges County Police Chief John Farrell.

The station was temporarily closed as fire department hazardous- material teams in protective rubber suits responded and the sick were treated at the scene.

Officers said the man apparently had evaded paying the fare when he got on the train, then pulled out a pump-action bottle and sprayed the area in a struggle with police who asked for his identification.

At the next train stop, additional transit police boarded, and the man pulled out a gun and fired a single shot at police. No one was hit.

Police said he was also carrying a large steak knife and religious material in an unidentified language.

The man, Kenneth Ranger, 23, was charged with attempted murder of a police officer and was being detained at an undisclosed hospital, Metro transit police said. He is believed to be a District of Columbia resident.

Prince Georges County Fire Department Capt. Chauncey Bowers said that after several hours of testing, authorities concluded that pepper spray used by officers may have made the passengers and workers sick.

"The irritation that was suffered quite possibly might have come from the pepper spray that was used to apprehend the suspect," he said. "All indications at the moment are that the substance is a cleaning solution." Bowers said those who developed sore throats and other symptoms were to be monitored for several days.

AP-ES-10-09-01 2133EDT

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001

good grief! the nuts are coming outta the boles!

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001