Update: By 5:20 p.m. Tuesday, the National Guard Civil Support Team was able to make a presumptive identification of the substance and indicated a negative result for highly contagious hazardous material, the county reported, adding that the remaining material will be sent to the Wyoming Department of Health lab for further identification. The individual directly exposed to the substance was treated and released by Campbell County Health. Others identified as being potentially exposed were held in quarantine until the substance was identified.
Update: As of 4:15 p.m. Tuesday the substance had not been identified but a response team from Cheyenne was on scene, the county reported.
The Campbell County Courthouse was evacuated late Tuesday morning on a report of possible hazardous materials exposure, the county government reports.
Authorities initially identified 10 people exposed to the hazardous material with one person sent to the hospital as a precautionary measure, says a Tuesday statement the county sent to Cowboy State Daily and other media outlets.
The county has requested the civil support team from Cheyenne “for advance sampling,” but doesn’t consider the material a threat to the general public at this time.
The Gillette Police Department incident supervisor was still on scene as of 1:30 and the department had no new updates at that time, GPD Deputy Chief Brent Wasson told Cowboy State Daily in an email.
County spokeswoman Leslie Perkins said the scene was still active as of 2 p.m., but the county would not issue further updates until after the Cheyenne team arrives, adding that the team is traveling north by plane.
Campbell County Emergency Management Coordinator David King couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, but told the Gillette News Record that the incident is being treated as if it were a terroristic threat.
Just what the potentially hazardous material could be wasn’t released.
'Didn't Want To Be Near'
Local resident Heidi Kennedy accompanied her adult daughter to court that morning and was asked to leave as part of the evacuation, she told Cowboy State Daily.
The pair went to court, then visited the Campbell County Clerk’s office so Kennedy could see if she was still registered to vote following recent Wyoming voter law changes.
Two women came into the clerk’s office and asked the visitors to leave.
“Yes, you’re registered,” said the clerk’s staffer in that same moment, Kennedy said.
“Ok!” answered Kennedy, and she and her daughter turned to leave.
Her daughter was curious and said they should stick around and see what was happening, Kennedy said, adding that she didn’t want to do that.
“I didn’t want to be near a building that was going to explode, or a shootout or something,” she said with a laugh. “I was like OK, we’ll leave.”
Later upon learning that the threat was chemical in nature, Kennedy wondered if she and her daughter were exposed to anything dangerous.
“I doubt we were, but since we don’t know what it was – I don’t know,” she said.
Taped Off
Gillette resident Sydney McGinty was only at the courthouse for “about a minute” when she tried to get vehicle license plate tags Tuesday morning, she told Cowboy State Daily.
Four officers approached her vehicle and told her she wasn’t allowed inside, and asked why she was there. She drove around the back of the courthouse and spotted an ambulance and several fire trucks, and everything was taped off, said McGinty.
Both McGinty and Kennedy noted that a construction project has been ongoing in the building’s upstairs.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
