Schools

Pepper Spray Triggers Temporary Evacuation of Germantown School

MCFRS: Five students and one adult were taken to the hospital.

Pepper spray spurred the temporary evacuation of Roberto Clemente Middle School on Friday, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman Beth Anne Nesselt said.

Five students and one adult were taken to the hospital, Nesselt said.

The middle school—whose enrollment is more than 1,150—was evacuated at 11:26 a.m. after at least eight students and one teacher on the school's lower floor complained of breathing problems.

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More than two dozen rescuers, four ambulances and a medical ambulance bus responded to the scene, Nesselt said.

Three busloads of students were taken to Seneca Valley High School to get students out of the rain, said Montgomery County Public Schools spokesman Dana Tofig.

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Investigators determined that someone had sprayed pepper spray, Nesselt said. Montgomery County Police are investigating who did it.

Students were let back in the building at around 12:30 p.m., Nesselt said.

By 12:45, “everyone was back in the building getting lunch,” Tofig said.


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