FEATURED IN
- President Obama Issues EMS Week Proclamation
- Up to 60 Injured after Car Drives into Va. Parade
- Images, Video: Commuter Trains Collide in Connecticut; 60 People Injured
- California EMT Burned in Race Kart Fire; Community Responds
- Woman in Towed Car Likely Died at North Carolina Crash Scene, Autopsy Finds
- Boston EMS Aid Subway Crash Victims
- Washington, D.C. Faces a Critical Paramedic Shortage
Editor's Note: Talk with colleagues about responding to situations where a suicide victim may have used hazardous chemicals to commit the act at"New Way to Commit Suicide: Protect Yourself from Noxious Gas."
BOULDER, Colo. -- Emergency crews were investigating a situation involving possibly hazardous chemicals and an apparent suicide at a Boulder hotel Thursday.
Boulder police responded to the Outlook Hotel and Suites at about 5 p.m. after the mother of a 41-year-old man called police and said her son may have committed suicide in a room at the hotel. There was no response when police went to the man's room, and after breaking down the door, they found him dead on the bathroom floor as a result of an apparent suicide, according to police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley.
Officers also noticed an odor when they entered the room. After finding the man dead, they saw a note on the bathroom door that read, "Dangerous chemicals. Call firefighters." The officers quickly left the room and called a hazardous-materials team to investigate.
It appeared late Thursday that any chemicals that may have been released "were not lasting," Huntley said. She also said police were still investigating some belongings left in the room.
Police likely weren't going to know the type or amount of chemicals released until today, she said.
People staying in the north wing of the hotel, where the room is, were evacuated and relocated to other rooms. No symptoms were reported by anyone at the hotel or the officers, Huntley said, and first responders were being decontaminated as a precaution.
Several fire engines, police, ambulances and haz-mat crews were at the high-profile location just off U.S. 36.
Camera Staff Writer Brandon Schatsiek contributed to this report.
Emergency workers in hazardous-materials gear work outside the Boulder Outlook Hotel on Thursday evening.
