Phony track worker rigs subway terror scare in bizarre cyanide suicide try

NY Daily News ^ | April 30, 2010 | ROCCO PARASCANDOLA

[LibertyRocks]

A phony track worker triggered a terror scare inside a lower Manhattan subway tunnel Friday morning - but he turned out to be a despondent college student who wanted to kill himself by ingesting sodium cyanide, police said.

A 20-year-old Pace University student who has been on the school's Dean's List told police he wanted to find a discreet alcove, mix the cyanide pellets with water and ingest it.

"He did not want to be found," said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD's top spokesman.

"He had no ID on him. He was looking for some isolated place in the system."

The pellets, commercially sold and typically used to clean jewelry, can create a noxious gas when heated.

The suspect did have five flares in his backpack -- along with two liters of water and a quart container of cyanide - but police said the flares could not produce the heat needed to cause any damage.

"This was not a terrorist plot," Browne said. "We believe it was part of a plan for an individual to kill himself alone."

NYC Transit employees on a work train spotted him at 5:30 a.m. in the tunnel connecting the Borough Hall station, in Brooklyn, and the Bowling Green station in lower Manhattan.

The suspect was dressed as a track worker - wearing a hard hat, reflective vest and knee-high boots - but he had no work identification on him, so the employees brought him aboard the train, and police were notified.

He admitted to police he was depressed and wanted to end his life - not kill anyone else. He was still being questioned Friday morning.

[LibertyRocks]

Same... I honestly can’t imagine NYPD buying this story.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Thank you LibertyRocks!!

[Gene Eric]

>> Emperor Bloomberg doesn’t want the truth to get out.

>> If this kid wanted to kill himself, he could jump off the GW Bridge like the other fruit loops do

No, no, no. He should have consumed salt and trans-fats.

[LibertyRocks]

VERY happy to be able to do so!!! Don’t know where I’d be without my FR family! :)

[TChris]

For some reason I am NOT buying the "I only wanted to kill myself" defense. One doesn't need THAT MUCH cyanide to merely kill oneself... It only takes a VERY SMALL amount (remember the Tylenol poisonings).

My thoughts as well.

[Osage Orange]

Seems to me...the guy went to a lot of trouble to attempt to kill himself.

He could have just jumped in front of Jesse Jackson on his way to AZ........

[Freddd]

Emperor Bloomberg doesn’t want the truth to get out. If this kid wanted to kill himself, he could jump off the GW Bridge like the other fruit loops do.

2 posted on Friday, April 30, 2010 2:07:52 PM by NoKoolAidforMe (1-20-09—The Beginning of an Error..............1-20-13—Change we can look forward to)

---

There is a reason his name and ethinicity is left out. But Bloomberg did just yesterday say, he wants the illegal aliens that are invading America, to come to NY....

[Secret Agent Man]

So what’s his name, they seem to have omitted that. What’s his ethnic background? If he’s islamic, there is no way that story is true, given the amounts of sodium cyanide he had.

[LibertyRocks]

The man who has been arrested in connection with this is named Aaron Fetto. I've looked at his profile over on FB, but most of it is private. I'm not seeing anything among his friends there that would indicate ties to Muslims, however, that doesn't mean that there definitely wasn't.

I do notice he's a "fan" of the RNC -- however, I also know many of my liberal & some libertarian acquaintances and former classmates are "fans" of that page as well for the purpose of keeping an eye on the "enemy" in their eyes...

Watch for the MSM to seize on that though and try to paint him as a conservative.

From the WSJ Blogs:

EXCERPTED -- READ THE WHOLE REPORT HERE:
NYPD Arrest Man Found in Subway with Sodium Cyanide
By Sean Gardiner and Joel Stonington

< snip >

Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers riding in the tunnel to pick up garbage spotted Aaron Fetto, 20, dressed in a hardhat, reflective vest and yellow, knee-length boots around 5:30 a.m. walking in the tunnel south of Bowling Green heading toward Brooklyn, said Paul Browne, the New York Police Department’s spokesman.

< snip >

Inside Fetto’s backpack, detectives found two one-liter bottles of water, five road flares, a lighter and a quart-sized can with a “sodium cyanide” label.

The Department of Environmental Protection was called in, as were officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit who searched the tracks, but found nothing.

The can was taken to a mobile lab downtown where officers in protective hazardous materials suits opened the can and discovered what they believe were sodium cyanide tablets, Browne said. Sodium cyanide is a highly toxic salt most commonly used as a pesticide. When heated it emits toxic fumes but is not an explosive.



Browne said the police believe his story and have ruled out terrorism, but charges against Fetto are pending.

[LibertyRocks]

See the post right below yours... The man’s name as reported in the WSJ is Aaron Fetto. I looked him up on FB, and there is nothing that immediately jumps out in regards to Muslim connections — doesn’t mean there isn’t... Just that if there are it’s not an obvious connection.

I sure hope the FBI or Homeland Security is involved in some capacity though. He could be a “lily white” patsy like the OU Bomber, or McVeigh.

[LibertyRocks]

ALL:
Please note that a lighter was also found. The flares couldn’t cause the heat necessary ALONE, but as I said above — there is more than enough in those tunnels to build a fire that WOULD turn those pellets into a toxic gas.

[LibertyRocks]

I should say that even if he’s NOT Islamic I don’t believe the suicide story due to the amount of sodium cyanide ANYWAY. A very plausible scenario involving a fire in the tunnel, using the flares to stop the train and the fumes infiltrating the subway cars has been speculated about by another FReeper above. I’d say that scenario is MUCH more likely than some “suicide” attempt.

[EEDUDE]

I would guess that the “water” he carried was hydrochloric acid. Mixed with the sodium cyanide he carried it would produce large quantities of cyanide gas.

Flares to stop the train?

Suicide attempt my ass.

[LibertyRocks]

Some of the reports say that the canister was handed over to an agency for testing. I wonder if they did the same with the “water” bottles... Easy to test that with a PH strip though (if I’m remembering my chemistry well enough).

[Carley]

Suicide bomber is more like it.

[milford421]

Ping and here’s another article from the NY Post with more info:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/pace_student_found_with_poison_cops_HnYnfWF1KZyj4goK6hFEgM

You don’t go through the trouble of having workgear, safety vests, flares, etc. when you’re trying to kill yourself. He may well have been suicidal, but in my opinion, that was part of his mission. It is not stated whether he had a respirator. This guy had a QUART of cyanide, several water bottles, Inside a backpack he was carrying: “investigators found a quart-sized bottle of Sodium Cyanide tablets, five road flares and several bottles of water, police said.”

[milford421]

Bowling Green station is very busy...Wall Street, downtown, etc. Fire on the Boston subway line yesterday?

[LibertyRocks]

Thanks much! Sorry I didn’t ping you directly! Busy day for me here...
[Nasty storm coming in as I write this. Under a tornado watch right now... We’re FINALLY we’re getting some good rain — however the winds are too strong for my taste... Worst part should be here in a few minutes. This is the FIRST real storm of the SEASON up here! ]

[LibertyRocks]

That’s what I was wondering about as well. Someone up above speculated a much more likely scenario than any suicide attempt.

[Cindy]

Thanks Liberty Rocks for ping to this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2504021/posts

#

Thanks RDTF for posting this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2504001/posts

I’ll look at both after lunch and COFFEE.