Parents were notified early Wednesday that the school was closed. About 40 students who arrived at school were moved to a nearby high school, where parents picked them up. The students will be taught today at alternate sites. Mercury is a toxic, silver liquid most dangerous when inhaled. It is most commonly found in thermometers, fluorescent tube light bulbs, refrigeration equipment and blood pressure monitoring equipment. Short-term exposure to high concentrations may cause headaches, cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting.
As of Wednesday afternoon, one child showed symptoms and was being checked at a hospital, health officials said. Luanne Williams, a toxicologist with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said the incident is serious but could have been worse. "The good thing about this is that it was brief exposure," she said. "That's what's on our side, and I wouldn't expect any lingering long-term effects here."
Health officials said they weren't sure how many students might have been exposed. They knew there were 38 students on one bus where elevated mercury levels were detected, and dozens more might have been exposed on another bus or in classrooms or hallways, said Brian Letourneau, Durham County's public health director. Health officials widened their investigation to Neal Middle School after learning the bus with high mercury levels also ran a route to that school Wednesday morning, Williams said. One backpack and some clothing with traces of mercury were recovered there, she said. State and county officials on Wednesday pieced together a sequence of events that they say they think began Friday night when Carlos Guerra, 21, who works for an air-conditioning company, went to an East Ramseur Street church and gave an unknown amount of mercury to four youngsters.
Garner police charged Guerra, of 311 LaSalle St., No. 3001H, with stealing the mercury from a Garner job site Friday. "I don't think he knew what he was dealing with," said Lt. Don Paschall of the Durham County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating. "He was referring to it as 'magic water.' "
Health officials say Guerra gave the mercury in cups to four children at Iglesias De Restauracion, a storefront church east of downtown. On Tuesday, the officials say, the four children brought the mercury to school, wiped it on others and sprayed it from spray bottles on three school buses and in at least one classroom. Officials said Wednesday that they didn't know whether the children knew mercury is dangerous. The incident came to light late Tuesday, when a parent heard her child describe being sprayed with mercury and alerted authorities. The homes of the four children were evacuated Wednesday, and each family relocated temporarily. The homes of two other children who had traces of mercury on them or their clothes also were evacuated, as was Guerra's. At Guerra's home, officials recovered some mercury in a small container, Letourneau said. Letourneau said he wasn't sure how much mercury Guerra had. The church was locked down Wednesday. A police officer in the driveway turned away onlookers. Carlos Chavez, the music coordinator, said he did not know Guerra. Chavez said the church had been told to close until health officials could test for mercury.
After it was learned Wednesday morning that a custodian at UNC-Chapel Hill's Davis Library also worked at the Durham elementary school, the library closed for about two hours while officials searched for, but did not find, mercury in the building. Jesse McCrimmon of Pittsboro worked until 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at Oak Grove before heading to Davis Library, where he worked from midnight to 8 a.m. cleaning the seventh and eighth floors.
