Rolla Anthrax Scare Results in Student Sugar Hoax
Jim Salter/Associated Press
Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: National Briefs
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Twenty-three people who were either in the building or came into contact with the suspect were immediately quarantined in a nearby physics building. By mid-afternoon, all 23 _ eight students, a faculty member and emergency workers who responded to the call _ were allowed to leave. None underwent decontamination procedures because they never showed signs of illness and believed from the outset the powder was not dangerous, authorities said.
Venkatramolla was taken to Phelps County Regional Medical Center for decontamination before being taken to a holding facility at the Rolla Police Department, Kearse said.
The 5,850-student technological research and engineering campus was shut down for the day. A Catholic grade school near campus also was closed.
Stoltz said classes resumed Wednesday.
Police found a four-page note in which the student threatened to destroy the building, Kearse said. He declined to discuss other details of the note.
The suspect lived in an off-campus apartment and authorities interviewed his roommate, Mayor Bill Jenks said, although he would not provide details. He said no one else would be charged.
Maxwell Klein, 20, a sophomore engineering student from St. Charles, said class work at the university can be difficult. Still, he couldn't understand how a student could apparently go so far over the edge.
"There's a lot of pressure and it can be stressful _ you'll have times where you'll have multiple tests in one day or one week," Klein said. "But to have something like this happen is hard to believe."
Venkatramolla was taken to Phelps County Regional Medical Center for decontamination before being taken to a holding facility at the Rolla Police Department, Kearse said.
The 5,850-student technological research and engineering campus was shut down for the day. A Catholic grade school near campus also was closed.
Stoltz said classes resumed Wednesday.
Police found a four-page note in which the student threatened to destroy the building, Kearse said. He declined to discuss other details of the note.
The suspect lived in an off-campus apartment and authorities interviewed his roommate, Mayor Bill Jenks said, although he would not provide details. He said no one else would be charged.
Maxwell Klein, 20, a sophomore engineering student from St. Charles, said class work at the university can be difficult. Still, he couldn't understand how a student could apparently go so far over the edge.
"There's a lot of pressure and it can be stressful _ you'll have times where you'll have multiple tests in one day or one week," Klein said. "But to have something like this happen is hard to believe."
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