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DEA investigates HAZMAT situation on VCU campus

Posted at 4:07 PM, Apr 17, 2012
and last updated 2012-04-17 23:32:41-04

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) Several units are on the scene of a HAZMAT situation downtown, reports Mark Holmberg.

Virginia Commonwealth University police and the Richmond Police Department, Richmond Fire, Richmond Ambulance and the HAZMAT team are at 10th and Leigh Streets on the VCU MCV campus.

The scene is at the campus residence hall complex known as Warner Rudd Bear and McRae Halls. The dorms were evacuated, said VCU, when campus police found unidentified compounds, liquids and glassware in a student's dorm room.

VCU Police Chief John Venuti said that Tyler Hendon, 27, was arrested earlier Tuesday for possession of marijuana and a controlled substance, DMT.

During the course of the investigation, police executed a search warrant at Warner Hall, where Hendon lived downstairs, alone, on the main floor.

Our reporter on the scene said that the Drug Enforcement Administration suited up with masks and respirators and entered the building.

Mike Porter, spokesperson for VCU, said that air quality monitoring tests were performed, and materials were removed.

Venuti said that no evidence of "a functioning laboratory was found."

CBS 6 reporter Mark Holmberg said that the DEA remains on scene checking materials that could have been potentially used in the production of DMT.