Children in Bad Shape After Acid Attack

(NewsReady.com) – Ashley Thielen took her children to the park on Sunday, June 11, in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. She believed it would be a normal day in the sun. Shortly after arriving, her kids began sobbing, and she realized they were in danger.

Thielen told a local news agency that she got to the park around 8:15 a.m. and didn’t think much of the slides being wet. She said when her 1-year-old started to cry, she realized the liquid on the slide was not water. Photos of her kids reportedly showed them with swollen and blistered legs.

On Monday, the Longmeadow Fire Department issued a statement on social media, saying that they responded to the playground the day before along with the police. They investigated the slides and determined there was an acid-like substance on three of them. At that point, the department requested resources from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Fire Service Hazardous Material Response Team, the Massachusetts State Crime Lab, and prosecutors.

Authorities determined someone broke into the pump room in the pool building. They had to climb over a fence and break a ventilation shaft to get into the basement where the room was located. The Fire Department explained in its post that whoever committed the crime took a lot of time and effort to get into the area where the chemicals were being stored. Haz-Mat told police the suspects poured the chemicals that they found in the room on the slide; one of them was muriatic acid, and that’s what burned the kids.

Thielen expressed gratitude that the situation was not worse. She explained that one of her kids likes to dip his whole face into the water table at home. Fortunately, he didn’t do that at the park on Sunday.

Authorities closed the park to clean it up. They asked anyone with information to contact the police tip line at 413-565-4199. Although investigators don’t know who committed the acid attack on the kids, they believe the suspects might have suffered burns on their own hands and clothes.