By Jamie Stockwell and Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 9, 2001; 2:59 p.m. EDT

Metro officials closed the Southern Avenue station on the Green Line this morning after a man sprayed a clear liquid on a train and then fired a single shot at officers when they tried to apprehend him. The investigation is expected to keep the station line closed through the evening rush hour.

Metro Police Chief Barry McDevitt said officers were able to subdue the man, who had pushed his way onto the Metro without paying, and apprehended him on the station platform, but that more of the liquid spilled in the platform area.

No one was injured in the shooting, McDevitt said, but about 35 people who were on the train or the platform were being detained for decontamination and possible treatment as local and federal officials tried to determine what was in the bottle the man carried.

Capt. Chauncey Bowers, spokesman for the Prince George's County Fire Department, said the people were complaining of nausea, headache and dry throat, which could also be symptoms of exposure to pepper spray, which officers used while trying to take the man into custody.

The incident occurred about 11:20 a.m. and by 2 p.m., Bowers said fire department hazardous materials specialists had completed about half of the work needed to determine what substance might be in the bottle. The emptied train was immediately taken to the Greenbelt rail yard where it was quarantined; other hazmat officials were working there.

Bowers said about 80 fire department people were working on the incident, in addition to Prince George's and Metro police and FBI agents.

Metro spokesman Ray Feldmann said the Southern Avenue station likely will be closed throughout the evening rush hour and that Metro is providing buses to ferry riders around the station.

"Our security is ongoing," Feldmann said, seeking to assure riders that Metro is safe. "We are taking a look at the situation to see what approach we might need to take, but right now we are satisfed with the safety."

He urged riders to be very aware and to be always on the lookout for anything suspicious.

"We have every reason to believe this was an isolated incident," Feldmann said.

According to the accounts provided by McDevitt, Feldmann, Farrell and Bowers, the incident began when the man pushed his way into the Metro and was acting disorderly. A Metro officer boarded the train and when he asked the man for identification, the man pulled a pump action spray bottle from his jacket and sprayed several times.

By then another Metro transit officer had boarded the train and they used pepper spray on the man, who pulled a gun from the back of his jacket and fired a shot. The struggle with the man continued on the platform, where more of the liquid was spilled. Police also found the man was armed with a knife with a 12-inch blade.

Bowers said the people on the train and on the platform were being decontaminated – stripped of their clothes, hosed down and then given disposable clothing – as a precaution.

McDevitt said the incident came shortly after a call to Metro indicating that three bombs had been placed in the system. He said a sweep of all stations found nothing and that he did not believe the incidents were related.

He said officers and workers had cleared the stations of an unusual amount of debris and trash today, an apparent result of the removal of all trash cans within the station as a security precaution.