The Associated Press
Albuquerque, N.M. (AP) -- An explosive powder was found in the car of a man who threatened to commit suicide inside the Veterans Affairs Medical Center here, police said.
The parking lots and streets around the hospital were evacuated and patients were moved to safe parts of the hospital for several hours beginning late Wednesday afternoon while a robot was used to search Manuel Medina’s car.
Authorities said a briefcase believed to be containing the highly flammable and explosive chemical calcium carbide was safely removed from the car.
“It’s about 30 years old, but it’s still pretty volatile,” said Skip Navarrette, an inspector in the city’s fire marshal office. “It’s highly flammable, but it can be even harder to deal with if it’s exposed to water.”
When wet, the powder generates acetylene gas, which is explosive when exposed to air. The gas or the powder can cause extreme skin irritation it’s inhaled, swallowed or exposed to skin.
“The gas actually is pretty common and is found in torches used by most mechanics to cut mufflers and things like that,” Navarrette said. “But, like a lot of chemicals, if it’s used improperly, it can be dangerous.”
Medina had threatened suicide in the hospital’s emergency room and told a hospital worker of the explosive, said Albuquerque police spokeswoman Officer Trish Ahrensfield. He was taken into custody.
Albuquerque police’s bomb squad and fire department and authorities from Kirtland Air Force Base responded to the call shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday. The crews finished their work in the parking lot about four hours later.