UTexas Minority Students Hit With Bleach Balloons

Summer incidents had gone unreported
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 4, 2012 11:19 AM CDT
UTexas Minority Students Hit With Bleach Balloons
University of Texas president Bill Powers gives the state of the university speech, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012.   (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

University of Texas at Austin students and staff are protesting after four students were reportedly hit with "bleach bombs"—balloons filled with bleach—while off campus. The attacks on minority students occurred between June and September, but they'd gone unreported until the campus police chief began investigating. "We had heard at UT rumors of incidents that had happened, but no one had ever filed a report," a campus rep tells ABC News.

"Our chief of police did his own research, found some things on Facebook, and heard about a couple of people who were hit by balloons." The chief ultimately approached the students about the incidents, and this week, "four people came forward and filed reports." An African-American student said he'd been hit twice by the balloons, which reportedly fell from tall buildings. Campus police haven't yet confirmed the balloons contained bleach, but, "It's very frustrating to know that it's 2012 and that stuff like this still happens," says another student. (More University of Texas stories.)

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