CHICAGO -- Fourteen people were taken to area hospitals Wednesday morning after Chicago Fire Department paramedics were sent to an elementary school when children ate what police said might have been "candy laced with an unknown substance."
An emergency medical service plan one was called around 9 a.m. for James Russell Lowell Elementary School at 3320 W. Hirsch St., sending at least six ambulances to the scene, officials said. Children were taken to "hospitals as a precaution after possibly consuming candy laced with an unknown substance," police said in a media notification.
All fourteen people taken to hospitals were students, according to police. About a dozen or so students were not feeling well, sources said.
Four people were taken to Stoger Hospital, four went to Norwegian American Hospital, four went to Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, and two were taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, fire officials said.
Parents at the school were at least initially given conflicting accounts of what might be happening as ambulances arrived and began taking away children. Some were told it was a drill, others that it was an emergency -- but not given details -- and one grandparent of a student told parents that older students had candy with marijuana.
Alba Rodriguez, 30, was attending a meeting for the school's parent patrol when a security guard told them there was an emergency but didn't give them any further details.
"We got the right to know because we got kids in here too," she said.
Rodriguez, who has three children attending Lowell, stood outside with two other parents as they tried to figure out what happened. "We just went inside asking (the security guard) if we could see our kids, but she said 'no, if you didn't get the call then you're kids are fine," Rodriguez said.
Anita Jones has three grandchildren who are students at Lowell and walked over after a relative saw a news report about ambulances responding to the school.
A security guard told her what took place was a drill but Jones wanted more answers. She was later told her grandchildren were fine if she didn't get a call from the school.
"What that mean?" Jones said. "You took away the kids in ambulances."
Another grandparent told her the students became sick because of candy that contained marijuana.
"I want to know who passed out the candy," Jones said. "Did mine pass out the candy in 8th grade? I don't know; tell me something. Are mine OK? Can I see them? You know, just let me see them."
A steady stream of parents continued to walk in and out of the school as they checked on their children.
"Everybody's good," one man said as he scurried back to his car.