Suspect is arrested in mercury-spilling incident

[951-Riverside]

LOS ANGELES -- Federal and local authorities on Tuesday arrested a 27-year-old man they believe dumped mercury on a downtown L.A. subway platform, ending a weeklong dragnet that raised more questions about the handling of the incident.

Armando Bustamante Miranda was being question by FBI agents and L.A. sheriff's investigators, who are trying to determine why he allegedly dropped the hazardous chemical in the station on Dec. 22 and then called a Metropolitan Transportation Authority operator to report what he did.

Detectives expressed frustration at the difficulty in finding the suspect, at one point creating more than a dozen potential "profiles" including a prankster, a screenwriter working on a script, an actor seeking attention, a student working on project and even a terrorist.

Officials again Tuesday said they doubt the incident was related to terrorism but admit they don't know the motivation or how he acquired the mercury. They described Miranda as a transient, but few other details were known about him.

"There is no evidence that this is terrorism-related, although we're still sorting out the details just to be safe," said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

http://www.latimes.com/la-me-mercury24jan24,0,7550064.story?track=mostviewed-homepage

[damntexdem]

1. Oh, it was likely terrorism.

This transient probably conspired with himself to commit an act of terrorism.

Better bring in Hoaxland Security on this one! ;-)