Hydrogen cyanide found in UNL dorm room

One floor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Pound Hall was evacuated and the rest of the dorm put on lockdown for an hour and a half Sunday evening after police discovered potentially lethal hydrogen cyanide in a student’s room.

Just after 6 p.m., UNL police responded to a 911 call alerting them of a possible overdose poisoning, according to Capt. Carl Oestmann.

The call came from a 19-year-old UNL student living on the second floor of Pound Hall who had ingested a small amount of the chemical. Oestmann wouldn’t say exactly how much the student ingested or in what form, whether gas or liquid.

Within minutes of the 911 call, UNL police and the Lincoln Fire Department, including the department’s hazardous materials unit, were on the scene. Officers evacuated Pound’s second floor and put the rest of the dorm on lockdown, not wanting any student coming or going during a potentially dangerous situation, Oestmann said.

The student who ingested the chemical was taken to a Lincoln hospital and was in stable condition late Sunday, Oestmann said. Police believe the incident may have been a suicide attempt, he said.

Pound was re-opened a little after 7:45 p.m. About 270 students live in the dorm, located at 513 N. 17th St.

No one else was hurt.

The hydrogen cyanide was removed from the room and no Pound resident is in harm’s way, Oestmann said. He said the student did not have a roommate.

One UNL officer who was among the first to arrive at Pound sought precautionary medical treatment, he said, but the officer was unharmed.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, hydrogen cyanide is a chemical asphyxiant that can be rapidly fatal even in small amounts because it affects nearly every organ system of the body, including the central nervous, cardiovascular and pulmonary systems.

It can be a colorless gas with a bitter almond odor or used as a solution in water. It is a chemical warfare agent.

Oestmann said he couldn’t speculate about how the student obtained hydrogen cyanide but said police will continue to investigate.

It’s too early to say what charges, if any, the student might face, Oestmann said.

UNL did not use its emergency alert system, UNL Alert, to notify students of the incident because the chemical was present in such a small amount and was so centrally located that officers quickly determined the campus was not in danger, Oestmann said.