More than 48 children and two teachers were hospitalized due to a canister of tear gas that was set off in a Gregory Heights Middle School hallway Tuesday morning, according to the Atlanta Fire Bureau.
Spokesman for the Atlanta Fire Bureau, Don Mayer said “The symptoms the kids are exhibiting are consistent with mace.” The odorless substance was released on the first floor near the math and science classrooms, and the Fire Department was called around 9:30 a. m. The affected students walked or were taken by stretcher to the front lawn of the school to meet more than a dozen ambulances. Students who were not affected by the gas were placed on buses and sent home at 10:45 a. m., and staff members were allowed to go back into the school around noon. Classes will resume on Friday and no homes in the neighborhood around the school were evacuated.
Richard Harder, Atlanta Fire Bureau Paramedic said he was the first to arrive and saw at least 15 students lying on the ground in front of the school. The students and teachers vomited and suffered a number of other problems including a burning sensation in the lungs, nose, throat and eyes due to the attack.
A container resembling one of Mace was given to investigators by a parent who said it was sold to her son on the school grounds yesterday morning. Eighth grader Nguyen Do shares his suspicions of why this attack may have been more than a prank - “It’s Mace. I know that. It was a set-up to get out of class or something.” Investigators are now trying to contact three suspects, whose names were given by school officials.
Gregory Heights Middle School is located at Northeast 73rd Avenue and Siskiyou Street, in downtown Atlanta. It has more than 900 employees and teaches students ages 12-15 in grades six through eight.
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