Unknown liquid closes subway

TEMPLE HILLS, Md – A Metro subway station just outside Washington was closed yesterday after an armed man sprayed a substance into the air from a pump-action bottle as he scuffled with police. Authorities apprehended the man and said they didn't believe it was a terrorist act.

"It appears at this point to be an isolated incident," said Prince Georges County Police Chief John Farrell. Tests on the scene "do not indicate these are any biological agents at all," he said, although Farrell and other authorities cautioned that testing was still under way.

Fire department hazardous-material teams in protective rubber suits responded after several people reported being sick. Authorities said some 35 passengers and employees of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority were isolated at the site with symptoms of nausea, headache and dry throat. All were being decontaminated there, authorities said.

Officers said the man also dropped a jar of clear liquid, which spilled on the train and the subway platform.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, whose aides were monitoring the developments in a bioterrorism situation room, said the facts were still unfolding but that the substance released appeared to be perfume.

"We haven't done the analysis yet," Thompson cautioned. "It appears right now that it looks like perfume."