2 Students Arrested After Chemical 'Device' Goes Off

Colorado police say rupture was 'not accidental'
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 15, 2014 9:47 AM CST

Two Denver-area students have been arrested after a chemical device "went off" in a high school class room yesterday morning, sending at least four students and one teacher to the hospital. In a statement, police said they'd determined that the device's rupture "was not accidental," and added that the classroom was not a chemistry lab. One student at SkyView Academy in Highlands Ranch tells ABC 7 that she saw a boy putting a chemical in a water bottle and "shaking it up."

"My friend got hurt, and then this other guy got a chemical burn on his leg and then it like seeped through his clothing and they inhaled it," the student said. Another student reported seeing a girl with chemical burns on her hands, face, and eyes. Ten patients were evaluated at the scene, but a police spokesperson tells KDVR that none were seriously injured, and those hospitalized have since been released. The school was evacuated and classes canceled after the 10am incident. "Over the intercom, it said it was a fire drill," one sixth grader tells NBC 9. Classes will resume today. (More chemical weapons stories.)

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