Suspicious Incident at Md. Subway

Suspicious Incident at DC Subway

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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

 

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Southern Ave. Metro Station Closed

By Christina Pino-Marina
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 9, 2001; 12:40 p.m. EDT


The Southern Avenue Metro station on the Green Line was closed late this morning after a man armed with a knife and a gun got into an altercation with a Metro Transit officer and dropped a jar of unidentified liquid on the platform, a Metro spokeswoman said.

Spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the station at 1411 Southern Ave. was closed about 11:30 a.m. as a precautionary measure. "We're playing it on the safe side," she said. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center towers, local authorities are on heightened alert for bioterrorism and other attacks.

Prince George's County police, Metro police and hazardous materials crews are on the scene, and it is not clear how long the station will remain closed, Farbstein said.

All buses that go to Southern Avenue station have been diverted to Southeast Community Hospital, which will serve as a transfer point for passengers. A bus bridge has been established between the Naylor Road and the Congress Heights stations.

Farbstein said the man was taken into police custody. His name and age were not immediately available.


© 2001 The Washington Post Company