Nixa police department reopens after cyanide encounter
When a man came into the Nixa Police Department Friday afternoon with a box that contained sodium cyanide, there were a lot of unknowns.
Who touched the box? Who was the man? Is it safe to be in the police building? How did he get sodium cyanide and how can it be contained?
Sodium cyanide is harmless dry, but it can turn into a toxic gas when it comes in contact with water, said Whitney Weaver, assistant chief for the Nixa Fire Protection District.
"Your body stops absorbing oxygen," he said of the gas.
The man wanted to drop off what appeared to be a box of medicine bottles at a medical drop box at the police station, Weaver said, but it didn't fit. A previous report from the city said he left the box at the police department, but on Wednesday Weaver clarified that the man took the potentially dangerous substance with him.
The incident sparked a search for the man, involving the local fire department and the sheriff's department, and shut down the main police building for several days.
Weaver said the man found the box of what looked like medicine bottles in a shed on his property and, upon the recommendation of a friend, tried to drop them off at the police department. That same friend was calling officials later to identify the man to authorities, Weaver said.
A clerk at the police station who handled a bottle and then washed her hands thought she felt ill effects, Weaver said. He added that she and another clerk went to the hospital, but were ultimately OK.
The man had called the sheriff's department months prior about the box, which he found after moving to a home south of Nixa this fall, Lt. Jeff Lofton said. The call log had sparse information, he said.
Following the sodium cyanide situation, Lofton said deputies responded to the man's home, which was secured by the Nixa Fire Protection District.
Lofton declined to provide the name of the man, saying the case wasn't yet closed.
Weaver emphasized that if residents are concerned about a chemical or substance they find, they should not hesitate to contact their local fire department.
Nixa PD closed for hazmat situation; officials say man dropped off cyanide