Emergency responders fired a pepper-spray-like chemical late Wednesday into a Boalsburg-area home, concerned about a possible burglary in progress there, State College police Chief Tom King confirmed Thursday.
No suspects were apprehended or identified, he said, though an investigation is ongoing.
It happened at 104 Warnock Road, off South Atherton Street, where a neighbor alerted police at 8:30 p.m. to suspicious activity at the home. The neighbor thought someone was inside, but the tenant there was to have been away, King said.
He said officers had collected some intelligence earlier in the day that had raised some concerns at the address, though he did not elaborate.
When police responded to the scene at 8:30 p.m., King said, they saw a light inside the house go dark.
Given the intelligence they had, he said, they set up a security perimeter around the property and contacted a county tactical team with a higher level of training for such situations.
The tactical team broke some windows at the home to fire the chemical inside. No one emerged, and authorities found no one inside the home, either, King said.
If someone had been inside, he said, it’s possible that the party may have escaped the property as the perimeter was being set up. It was not immediately clear if anything was missing from the home.
‘What occurred in that house, if anything, is still being investigated,’ King said.
King did not detail exactly why police handled the matter with a chemical release, though he acknowledged such an approach is relatively unusual in this area. He said the substance is similar to pepper spray and would cause no lasting damage at the home.
Despite rumors circulated via social media, King said, terrorism is not suspected in connection with the case. He said the immediate response at the scene concluded about 2:30 a.m. Thursday.
