HAZMAT Situation, West Point Ga. Unknown cause

I just came across this on the RSOE EDIS site and thought I would throw it up here because it involves Hazmat and they dont seem to have a explanation for what happened. This took place in Georgia today at West Point.

This is the info they are showing:

West Point officials are searching for a suspect they say may be responsible for causing 14 other people to be sent to the hospital. Witnesses inside the Shell gas station on Highway 18 in West Point say a man walked into the restroom of the store and then ran out of the building around 8:00 pm. Officials say all the people in the store including workers and customers began to have breathing problems, nausea, or vomiting. West Point Fire Chief Milton Smith says when EMS arrived on scene they called for fire crews because they became sick as well. Smith says that is when the hazardous materials team was called in. The hazardous materials team has gone in and not identified any fluids, powders, or any kind of mist or aerosols at all. They've got all clear reading on the air samples they have taken. So, really we've got an unknown substance by an unknown subject," said Smith Smith says everyone who was in the building was taken to the hospital for evaluation. He says West Point law enforcement and GBI were also on scene investigating.

LINK TO RSOE

Kind of scary really when you think about it. What did that man have or do?

eta: I just thought it might be a good idea to have a heads up about this in case it starts happening elsewhere. We all know how the news drops the ball...

Just a guess but....maybe tear gas or something of the sort?

I am trying to look for info but there's not much.

Good find!

reply to post by sheepslayer247

That might have been a good answer except, this is West Point Georgia. Just a weee bit different.

reply to post by sheepslayer247


West Point military academy is in New York, not Georgia.


I missed the news tonight so I don't know if they talked about this. Going to do a little digging. Thanks for bringing it up.

Yes, I caught that. I changed my comments but was too late for you two!

Still, only thing I can think of.

Edit to add: Forgive me, it's been a long week and I wasn't thinking clearly before I made that comment.

How fast can methane dissipate in the air?

Here's a news article about it from a local news station. Pretty much says the same thing. It's strange this didn't make one of the Atlanta news stations...

www.wltz.com...


I wonder if this is drug related.

Maby he just let off a really bad fart, that would explain why he ran out of the restroom and people are vomiting.

Theres nothing to detect because the smell has now cleared away

reply to post by glitch88


Hmmm interesting. At least that mentions "Smoke" so that may be a clue. Nice we are now a step ahead.

Like I said earlier, I posted this because of how unusual it seemed and nothing really on the news that I heard all day, and just in case it starts happening elsewhere, we have a jump on it. Thanks for searching that out.

Wiki

There is a new Kia Motors plant there. It is near the Georgia/Alabama line. It seems to otherwise be a small un-impressive town.

This is an odd occurrence by any count. Haven't there been several other similar incidents lately? I can remember at least two other incidents where a dozen or so people became ill from something inhaled, but they never found a source.

reply to post by getreadyalready


This is the first I have heard of it ,but then I have been working lot lately and today is first day to really get in my usual groove of web browsing. Any clue to where to find the other stories?

reply to post by onehuman


These are the two from the last month that I can remember. The second one there in Colorado was almost identical to this story!

There were these packages at govt buildings.

Office in Pueblo IRS and others

reply to post by getreadyalready



Aww yes they have come up haven't they. Funny how quickly something can escapes ones mind. Thanks for making that connection, but does that mean we may need to be more concerned ?

reply to post by onehuman


In my opinion......yes.

I think we should be concerned that these things are possible test runs, or that these things are amateur attempts, which means the number of people looking to do harm is increasing. Either way, I think the situation is escalating.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Man now I have so many kinds of questions in my head. Like, Did the man that did it get sick himself? Im guessing he wasn't a homeless person, though I suppose he could of been. What would fit in a pocket , cause smoke and linger long enough to also make the emts sick. I mean we know they dont show up 30 seconds later. Also it seems the guy was interrupted when the cashier went in on him to investigate, so what might have happened if he got to finish what he was doing? Or was it just a possible suicide attempt?

If this is a type of attack being worked on I have a feeling they are going to keep it under wraps as long as possible.