Arrest made after USU hazmat evacuation

LOGAN — A “hazmat situation” forced students to evacuate from a Utah State University dormitory on Thursday night. Friday morning, the university announced a student had been arrested.

A spokesperson for the university said Mountain View Tower was evacuated for potential smoke contamination, and the Logan Fire Department investigated. They found the source of the fumes in a dorm room in the building.

“An individual was identified at the center of the incident who possessed a mixture of chemicals in his residence hall room,” the spokesperson said.” He was isolated for contamination and later arrested by USU Police.”

The spokesperson said the investigation is ongoing, but the arrested individual is accused of misdemeanor offenses of disorderly conduct and creating a catastrophe. On Jan. 22, Utah State University said the student was officially charged with disorderly conduct, is no longer enrolled at the university, and was prohibited from returning to campus.

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A probable cause statement for the incident named the student as 20-year-old Joshua Jager. The statement said police and fire crews had already responded to a similar incident at the dorm on Monday, when Jager set off the fire alarm. That day, he told police the alarm went off because he was “boiling water and vinegar to make potatoes.”

“Upon entering the room, officers and fire discovered a large amount of chemicals inside,” the statement said. “Officers began to suspect that there was possible drug or explosive making.”

Jager denied making bombs or drugs. Police told him on Monday to remove the chemicals from his room and stop his activities, the statement said. On Thursday morning, Jager was brought into the Utah State University Police Department for questioning about the chemicals. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Taskforce was reportedly present at the interview.

Jager was questioned about “ties that he has to any terroristic organizations. Jager denied any ties to these and stated he made a mistake by bringing the chemicals to his dorm,” the statement said.

The student reportedly told officers he would call the police if he found any more chemicals in his dorm, which he was supposed to get rid of. But just six hours after the interview, the dorm’s fire alarms were going off again, and this time, the situation appeared much more serious.

“The entire first floor was covered in a fog or vaporous substance, later determined to be hydrochloric acid in gaseous form,” the statement said.

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Jager reportedly told police that he was trying to “neutralize” chemicals in his room, but released a large amount of the dangerous gas. In a Jan. 22 statement, USU said the office of Environmental Health & Safety discovered “a small piece of uranium ore,” and said it is generally safe in its solid form in small quantities “so long as it is handled and stored properly.”

“At this time, USU Police have determined this individual acted recklessly and the criminal investigation remains active,” the university spokesperson said.

The university said no other students needed to be decontaminated, but the school had to find “spaces in other USU buildings and on an Aggie Shuttle bus to keep student residents out of the elements,” while they figured out what to do.