RICHMOND —
A Ballard Drive apartment building was evacuated Monday morning after Richmond police discovered a suspected one-step meth lab inside one of the units.
Two officers in hazmat suits spent hours carefully searching the apartment, which had a hand-written sign on the door telling people “Please Ring Door Bell.” A Confederate flag, outlined by a half-burned out string of Christmas lights, hung in the front window.
Earlier, police had arrested the apartment’s resident, Lucas Shanks, 26, and charged him with manufacturing methamphetamine and controlled-substance endangerment of a child. An elementary-age child was in the apartment when police arrived, according to officials at the scene.
Four adults were in the apartment and had to be decontaminated, according to RPD Maj. Bob Mott.
An anonymous complaint tipped officers off to the suspected drug activity, and a search warrant was obtained following an investigation, Mott said.
Emergency medical personnel and firefighters stayed at the scene for nearly six hours while the two officers meticulously took samples from plastic bottles filled with chemicals and catalogued all the items in the apartment that were used to make the illegal drug.
An emergency worker said once the police were done removing evidence, the landlord must hire a cleaning crew to decontaminate the apartment before it can be rented again. The building has nine units.
Dozens of people congregated outside on front stoops and porches, watching the process. Several dogs and one cat scurried about the parking lot, and at one point, the cat tried to enter the contaminated apartment, but an officer shooed him away.
Around 2 p.m., more RPD officers arrived and were instructed to perform “crowd control.” The neighbors slowly drifted back into their apartments as officers checked IDs. One man was searched and placed in a police cruiser, but it was unclear whether he was arrested.
The emergency workers, who were there in case of an explosion or exposure to fumes, cleared the scene at 4 p.m.
Sarah Hogsed can be reached at shogsed@richmondregister.com or 624-6694.
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Related Photos
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A Richmond police officer in a hazmat suit remove items from a Ballard Drive apartment Monday afternoon after a suspected one-step meth lab was discovered inside earlier in the day. Apartment resident, Lucas Shanks, 26, was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine and controlled-substance endangerment of a child. An elementary-age child was in the apartment, according to officials at the scene.
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Richmond police officers collected and tested a one-step lab and some suspected HCL (hydrogen chloride) generators that were removed from an apartment on Ballard Drive.
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A Richmond police officer wearing a hazmat suit enters an apartment on Ballard Drive after a suspected one-step meth lab was discovered there late Monday morning.
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A hand-written sign on the door telling visitors to "Please Ring Door Bell," welcomed Richmond police officers when they arrived at a Ballard Drive apartment to seize a suspected meth lab.
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Items used in a suspected one-step meth lab were removed Monday from an apartment on Ballard Drive by Richmond police wearing protective suits.
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People congregate outside an apartment building Monday afternoon on Ballard Drive to watch police remove suspected meth-making materials from a neighboring building.
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A Richmond police officer in a protective suit stands in the doorway of an apartment with a Confederate flag in the window Monday as authorities seize a suspected meth lab and materials.
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Richmond police officers collected and tested a suspected one-step lab and some suspected HCL (Hydrogen Chloride) generators that were removed Monday from an apartment on Ballard Drive.
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Neighbors peer out a doorway as they watch police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel crowd the parking lot of a Ballard Drive apartment building Monday during seizure of a suspected meth lab.
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Neighbors congregate outside watching as officers clear out a suspected meth lab Monday afternoon from an apartment on Ballard Drive.
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A man looks out the window of a Richmond police car Monday after he was searched during a crowd-control action as officers removed a suspected meth lab from an apartment on Ballard Drive.
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