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SGN in-depth EXCLUSIVE: City police and feds react to ricin poison threat to Gay bars |
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| SGN in-depth EXCLUSIVE: City police and feds react to ricin poison threat to Gay bars | ||
| by Mike Andrew -
SGN Staff Writer "If it turns out to be a hoax - which we all hope it is - then it's a very ugly threat to part of our community. If it's more than that, it's very, very serious." -Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels "Our investigation will be focused on the worst-case scenario." - SPD Assistant Chief Jim Pugel On Tuesday January 6, 11 Capitol Hill bars catering to the LGBT community received letters warning, "Your establishment has been targeted. I have in my possession approximately 67 grams of ricin with which I will indiscriminately target at least five of your clients." The Stranger weekly newspaper also received a letter repeating the threat and instructing them to "be prepared to announce the deaths of approximately 55 individuals all of whom were patrons of the following establishments on a Saturday in January." The eleven bars targeted were CC's, the Crescent, the Cuff Complex, the Elite, the Madison Pub, Neighbours, Purr, R Place, the Re-bar, the Seattle Eagle, and the Wildrose. Ricin is an extremely toxic poison derived from castor beans. 500 micrograms is considered a toxic dose for a human being. POISON THREAT TAKEN "VERY SERIOUSLY" Local and federal officials are taking the threats to poison patrons of Capitol Hill Gay bars "very seriously," according to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. Nickels revealed to SGN that he'd been made aware of the threats Tuesday evening. "Chief Kerlikowski called me at home to inform me," Nickels told SGN. "He had already contacted the FBI, the Postal Service, and the Washington State Crime Lab. Now, the Chief will call me at home with something important. He won't call me at home if it's not important." "My personal reaction is that it's awful," Nickels continued. "If it turns out to be a hoax - which we all hope it is - then it's a very ugly threat to part of our community. If it's more than that, it's very, very serious." Asked if he was being briefed on the progress of the investigation, Nickels replied, "I get periodic briefings. When something changes, I'm notified. The SPD is an outstanding agency, and I'm sure they'll do everything to solve this case." SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT TAKES ACTION In an exclusive interview with SGN, Assistant Chief Jim Pugel, the head of SPD's Investigations Bureau, and Capt. Paul McDonagh, Commander of SPD's East Precinct, talked about the threats and the measures SPD has taken in response. "We're treating this as a malicious harassment threat - in other words, as a bias crime," Capt. McDonagh told SGN. "Not all the letters referenced sexual orientation, but the Stranger letter did, and the list of targets appears to be based on sexual orientation, so that's how we're handling it." Described by Chief Pugel as a "terrorism expert, an expert in all the bio-chemical stuff," and by Mayor Nickels as "a rising star in the Department," McDonagh has served at the East Precinct since April 2007. He described the sequence of events on Tuesday, beginning at 1:51p.m. SPD OUTREACH INTERCEPTED UNOPENED LETTERS "The first report went to 911. Then it came to us [at the East Precinct]. Our officers collected evidence, including the physical letters. We passed the evidence to the follow-up unit. It was referred to the Homicide and Assault unit. The Bias Crimes investigator was also brought in on it." SPD has a detective specifically assigned to investigate bias crimes or monitor bias crimes investigations done by other units. "We then initiated outreach to the bars," McDonagh continued. "We contacted clubs who haven't received letters so they would be aware how to handle the letters safely if they did receive them, and we did outreach to the clubs who did receive them. I went with Deputy Chief of Operations Diaz and some other officers on Tuesday night, and we did the tour." "The case has been assigned to a Homicide detective with 29 years of experience, who used to work the Capitol Hill neighborhood," Pugel told SGN. "We've also assigned Intelligence detectives. We talk daily with the FBI. They head up a multi-agency group that includes postal inspectors. Those postal inspectors can do magic with anything that's gone through the mail." SPD protocols require notification of the FBI in specific kinds of investigations. "Whenever a threat involves chemicals or is received through the mail, we contact the FBI. It's automatic," Pugel said. "It was done on day one," McDonagh added. FBI INVOLVED, AGENTS ASSIGNED, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION INVOLVED FBI spokesperson Roberta Burroughs confirmed that the Bureau is working with SPD to investigate this case. "An agent has been assigned," she said, "but I can't comment on who. Local law enforcement, in this case SPD, know that when a weapon of mass destruction is involved - in other words, ricin - that the FBI needs to be informed." Asked if the FBI was investigating the case as domestic terrorism, Burroughs said "We wouldn't want to go into this with the preconceived idea it's domestic terrorism. It's too early to say what the motivation is." Pugel also declined to speculate about motives for the threats. "There are many different motives for doing something like this. It might be just for personal enjoyment or satisfaction, it might be a grudge, it might be someone or some group that disagrees with the lifestyle, it might be political & we want our investigators to look at everything." "We won't discount anything," he continued. "We're working with the FBI behavioral sciences unit. The Washington State Crime Lab is literally inundated with requests for assistance, but they made room for this case. We have many tools at our disposal today that we didn't have even a few years ago. You can do a search on 'threatening letters to Gay bars' for example. There's been a big increase in information sharing among agencies." "Our investigation will be focused on the worst-case scenario," Pugel said. "We're not dismissing this as a hoax. Someone who'd try this in Seattle might try it in Spokane or in Vanvouver, BC. All the bases are being covered. We meet about it once a day if not more. If it's not solved, it won't be for lack of trying, or for lack of resources." "We're treating this as a major case," McDonagh agreed. "We're assigning investigative and patrol resources. And we'll see it's prosecuted to the full extent of the law." ONGOING SURVEILLANCE BY KING COUNTY HEALTH DEPT. The King County Health Department is also taking the threats seriously, according to Communications Manager James Apa. "We sent out a health advisory to local hospitals and health care providers Tuesday night describing the symptoms of ricin poisoning," Apa told SGN. "There's no indication of any illness due to ricin poisoning, but it was a story out there in public discussion so we wanted to take the precaution." "Remember the anthrax scares a few years ago? Ricin is different from anthrax," Apa said. "There are no antibiotics that we can prescribe for ricin poisoning. Neither one is contagious. It's never a 'good news' story when ricin is involved, but it is good news that ricin poisoning can't be transmitted." "We do three things that are important in this case," Apa explained. "We do ongoing syndromic surveillance. In other words, we work with healthcare providers to look for unusual symptoms or illnesses. We also have a fax and e-mail list to alert local hospitals and the broader healthcare community. We make the decision when to send an alert, but we do it in consultation with law enforcement. And finally, we do substance testing for law enforcement." |
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| picture: Capt. Paul McDonagh | ||
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