Police evacuated part of a Lehigh Valley hotel after they discovered a mysterious substance and a dead man inside a suite after another man turned up sick in a hallway.
The Lehigh County Hazmat Team was called to the Staybridge Suites on Star Road in Upper Macungie Township, Pennsylvania Thursday night after a powdery was found in a suite where a man was also dead around 9:30.
Police focused on the suite after another man – staying in the same room – was found sickened in the hallway, Upper Macungie Police Chief Edgardo Colon said. Medics quickly treated the man.
"It's unknown if he was affected by the same chemical, the same substance – there seems to be some level of intoxication – he had to be decontaminated and he's being evaluated at the hospital," Colon told NBC10.
Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim identified the dead man as Emmanuel Ramirez of Maywood, California.
A large contingent of firefighters, medics and police responded. As crews worked to find more clues, emergency responders cleared guests from some of the rooms.
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"It was a very slow, and deliberate, and safe process that they take whenever there is a suspicion of specific chemical compounds of this nature," Colon said.
Guests returned to the their rooms overnight as investigators worked to find out what caused the man’s death. Grim said Ramirez's cause of death was pending toxicology results.
