A Pace student dressed as a subway track worker set off a terror scare inside the tunnel connecting the Borough Hall and Bowling Green stations early this morning when five flares were found in his backpack. NYC Transit employees reported him to police after he failed to produce identification, but police now believe the student was actually trying to kill himself, as two liters of water and a quart container of cyanide were also found in the 20-year-old's backpack. NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne told the Daily News, "This was not a terrorist plot. We believe it was part of a plan for an individual to kill himself alone."
The student, reportedly named Fetto, was found wearing a hard hat, a reflective vest and knee-high boots inside the tunnel around 5:30 this morning, and taken to anti-terrorism police at the Bowling Green station. He later told police he had jumped onto the tracks at the Fulton Street station in order to find a discreet spot in which he would mix the cyanide pellets with water and ingest the mixture. When heated, the mixture can create a poisonous gas. Browne said he wanted to find a hidden spot so "his body wouldn’t be found." Police believe he was not attempting a terrorist attack, but charges are pending.
