SUN VALLEY : Cyanide Spill Kills Man; Apartments Evacuated
A Sun Valley apartment house manager and part-time jeweler was found dead Tuesday next to half a pound of cyanide powder, a deadly poison which investigators said apparently killed him when it spilled as he used it to work on jewelry.
The cyanide spill caused Los Angeles police to close a four-block stretch of Vineland Avenue to traffic and evacuate the apartment complex for several hours. Los Angeles Fire Department hazardous materials experts put 27 people, including firefighters and police officers, through a decontamination process to ensure they were free of the poisonous powder.
Authorities did not make public the name of the dead man, but a supervisor for the company that managed the building in the 7500 block of Vineland Avenue and friends and residents identified him as Fernando Espinoza, 30.
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