Someone dumped what appeared to be gasoline on papers and a sofa at a Penn Hills day care center, Penn Hills police said Tuesday.
Penn Hills police Chief Howard Burton said Catherine Sapp, owner of Children's Christian Home Daycare in the 3000 block of Gilmore Avenue, called police to report an odor of gas at her business. The call came about 6:45 a.m., just after Sapp arrived at the center to open for the day.
Burton said police and Penn Hills firefighters who responded to the call at first suspected it might be natural gas, but then discovered that something smelling like a flammable substance was on papers in the dining room of the center. The substance also was discovered on papers on a desk on the second floor and on a sofa, Burton said.
The Allegheny County fire marshal is investigating the incident, and police have sent samples of the substance to the Allegheny County Crime Lab to be analyzed. Results will not likely not be available for at least six weeks, the chief said.
"It smells like gasoline, but there was no means to ignite it," he said.
Burton said the day care center has been operating at the Gilmore Avenue location for nine years and that Sapp gets along well with the neighbors.
Sapp declined to comment on the incident or to say how many children come to the center.
Her husband, Ronald Sapp, said the business was closed yesterday after the substance was discovered.
