Chlorine gas Incident at Midwest Furfest in Chicago

[Draxon 214]

As someone who has attended a furry convention, and would like to attend another, I consider myself fortunate to have not been there, but the fact that someone could stoop to this level is disconcerting.  That said, this will not prevent me from attending one in the future, and I hope that the number of people disturbed by this event outnumber those who direct hate at the fandom.  After interacting with other furries in person, I can say that they are among the nicest people I've ever met.  As the NJSPCA speaker declared at his presentation at the convention (after a generous donation was given), "Thank God for furries!"

[Bronydoc12 37]

this is sad why can't we just grow up and learn you can't get what you want thru violence and attack people and those who due are mental deranged and need help. for al this time all these thing been happening we as a people have not learned to put our judgments and prejudice aside for the greater society even thou it is what is what is what our constitution was spouse to set out in the beginning to do.

it is even in our countries slogan "out of many one" but still we can't just peaceful disagree and talk it out like normal human beings or just let people be.

[Flutter's lover <3 8,204]

This also reminds me of an incident that happened at a fur con I attended a few years ago....This was a local con too, so it hits a bit closer to home.But Yea. the hotel we were at, had our main furry con, and a smaller thing specific to DJs. Well, one of these "DJs" harassed one of the patrons, destroyed his $3,000 fursuit. The assailants then fled and got in a car....Con staff went after them.Unfortunately the DJs driving the car RAN OVER said con staff member and kept on driving. An Ambulance was called in, as were police.Licily someone got the license plate number.

 

 

Like, why all this negativity and hate? People need to grow the fuck up. And get over it.

 

 

 

I saw a friend of mine post this on Facebook(don't know if she attended or not).

 

I think what's more sick than the incident(not to downplay the seriousness) is the fact that there were a lot of people commenting on how it was a good thing and that "all those sick furries need to die"

 

The people who wish death on others who's only crime is having a fucking hobby are as just as much of a sick shitbag as whoever was responsible for this incident

 

Yea, a few of my friends went to this con as well, though as far as i Know, they're all okay...A Bit shaken up, but Okay,

 

 

 

I had a fur friend who attended, but fortunately he was part of the group that got out safely. There were 19 furrs that were poisoned and some people said that some of them may of died. I haven't heard much else but yeah.

 

Wait, someone actually died from it? Is this confirmed or unknown as of yet?

 

 

I've read about this recently how it was a hate on attack towards furries

I understand we all don't like a certain amount of people or interests out there, but killing or harming others is never the way

Yeah, furries are admittedly, odd, but using chlorine gas to them is unnecessary and rude

 

If there's something you don't like, you just ignore it, simple. But some people don't do that and they have to get violent about things. Violence never solved anything, it just causes more problems.

 

Hey, bronies are an odd bunch too.

 

On top of that, how many people who were staying there WERE NOT furries? How many families with children might be affected by that?

I said it once, and I'll say it again; Monsters like the person or people responsible for this don't deserve death or freedom.

This is a disgusting reaction to something that has ZERO impact on their own lives.

 

There were probably a good amount of people that had nothing to do with the con there as well, the entire hotel wouldn't be full of furries, but the vast majority of it would be. Like, there's little kids and the elderly in the bunch as well. It's fucked that anyone would do this.

[Aly 77]

There probably was no real reason other the a large crowd for the perpetrators to target. Just like the Boston bombing

[FlutterAether 421]

If something dreadful like this happened to Furries I can only imagine something worse happening to Bronies......

[Panne 1,342]

Wait, someone actually died from it? Is this confirmed or unknown as of yet?

I watched aan entire news segment on this and nobody died. Many that were hospitalized returned to the con soon actually. Even though it was potentially deadly nobody died.

[Perradial 114]

Oh. I'm glad nobody died, then.

[Unr3alGamer 230]

I've never really liked many furries. All they need is a slap into reality, not death. Death is never the best answer to any solution, it's just the easiest one.

[Panne 1,342]

same could be said about bronies too...
This is going to make people mad, but I've always put furries and bronies at the same level as far as outcast status goes.

Edited December 8, 2014 by Jeric
Removed Quote

[Vox 870]

Wow, now this is unexpected. a hate fueled hypothesis is quite believable, as i see alot of hate towards the furry subculture. Lets hope that one of OUR cons doesn't have an incident like this.

[Banul 3,831]

I don't understand how someone could drum up so much hate for something so inconsequential as being a furry, so much so that they would try to gas them. Its fucking baffling. I know that us furries arn't well liked, but this is madness.

[Andaasonsan 3,205]

I know there are people out there who hate furries, but not enough to kill as far as I know. 

 

It is possible, but my gut is telling me that the furry convention being there was a coincidence.

[Shanks 10,811]

It is one thing to not like somebody and  to even be a troll but this is beyond even that, I hope whoever is responsible for this is caught soon.

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

To clear up a bit of misinformation, this was not a "chlorine gas" attack, but rather, as stated in the main body of the article, a chlorine powder attack. The difference, according to one Redditor, is that:

 

 

I want to point something out which is very important. The headline is seriously misleading. This is not a chlorine gas attack. This is either spilled liquid chlorine from the pictures or someone just threw powdered chlorine. Both are very irritating and smelly, but it is FAR different had it been gas. If you or your friends had been around gas, they would still be in the hospital as it melts your lungs. i work around chlorine very, very often in all forms. Gas is a totally different animal than what your pictures are showing. Is the chlorine in your pictures irritating? yes. Will it kill or seriously hurt people exposed to it? not before you can get away from it. Gas will overtake you quickly and bring you to your knees in chest pain before you can get away from it. This was not gas and paints a wildly different picture than what the headline suggests.

 

Calcium hypochlorite (powdered chlorine) is a common cleaning material used in everything from swimming pools to food production. It does release chlorine gas if left to its own devices, but not a whole lot of it. It's similar to when you pour bleach in a toilet, but it certainly does smell like the real thing.

 

I should also relay the good news that, of the 19 people hospitalized in the incident, 18 have been released so far.

 

So, with any luck, #19 will leave the hospital fit as a fiddle, whoever did this will be thrown in jail for however long the law says he should, and people will get on with their lives and just accept that shit happens.

 

There is no grand plan or conspiracy to kill furries, much less bronies. Even if this turns out to be foul play, that means it was one person acting alone. And in Chicago, of all places. One of the most violent cities in the US. Don't let shit like this keep you from going to or enjoying conventions.

[Elegron 168]

Hatred on this level, is terrorism. Yea furries are weird, but that is no excuse. This act is appalling (not appealing damnit autocorrect) and I hope these people are met with justice. For those who don't understand the severity of this (and I think we all do) imagine if someone had bombed bronycon. Bronycon. Where i, and several famous bronies were just last August. The VA's might be injured or killed in it. The furries have famous people too, and even those who aren't should not be blown up just because they like to dress up as animals.

[Oblivion 20,265]

The way I see it is this way, do virtually whatever you want, like whatever you want, BE who or what you want to be as long as the end result is in no way harming anyone either mentally or physically, and from what I have gathered from the story either a single, or multiple people had a strong hate towards a certain group of people and intern put it upon themselves to reek havoc and cause bodily harm to them just for having different interests than them which in my mind for lack of a better term is complete BULLSHIT!

 

I hope they find whoever did this and they/he/she rot in prison for attempted mass murder charges.....

[DormantAccount 308]

Wow, now this is unexpected. a hate fueled hypothesis is quite believable, as i see alot of hate towards the furry subculture. Lets hope that one of OUR cons doesn't have an incident like this.

 

Especially seeing how I've heard a lot of families with small children attend brony conventions. I shudder to think what might happen if this went off at one of our shindigs. Children would likely be more susceptible to the gas and something worse than a brief stint in the hospital might have happened.

 

My heart goes out to these fellows. I'm no furry and I don't always understand them, but no one deserves this sort of treatment.

 

Some people say furries and bronies need to get a life, but how sad is a life that has brought you to this sort of despicable action.

[Lightning Dash 327]

This is both pathetic and childish and it's Obviously a hater. Now I'm not a fan of Furries myself but I do have friends that are Furries. I've seen many haters on the internet trolling Furries like there's no tomorrow but this is beyond hating.

 

There's probably a few fandoms I'm not too keen but you don't see me go around terrorizing those fandoms because that's what this basically is. Just because they don't like the fandom they think It's right to do something like this? That's bullshit. What the fuck is their problem anyway? what did Furries do to them to get that back? Well it's sick, even though I'm not into the fandom, I do feel for those that went through that.

 

The thing that gets me is haters actually do this for the kicks. If they thought this was a 'funny' thing to do, they've got a few screws loose. Just hope the one that were behind this get caught.

Edited December 11, 2014 by -Celestia-
Removed content related to deleted post.

[Jeric 46,834]

Closing for clean up and review. 

[Jeric 46,834]

Ok, I am reopening this topic. Remember ... be civil, do not attack each other, do not attack the community, and please keep this on topic and non inflammatory.

[Odyssey 5,713]

This is disgraceful. To attack a group of innocent people simply because of its vocal minority makes you stupid. Like, really stupid. Not just that, but hypocritical and desperate too.

 

I never understood the hate towards furries. So what if some like yiff? Many furries who do yiff can tell the difference between reality and fantasy. Not only that, but trying to purify a fandom is silly. No fandom is perfect, but there's no reason to purify it since explicit content going to appear in almost every fandom. What I love most about fandoms is the wide range of people and what they have to offer, explicit or not. To say that all furries are sick and twisted is rude to furries who don't do yiff and to furries who do.

[~Chaos~ 3,966]

This world is horrible at times. People can't simply enjoy something they like.

 

Can't stand people sometimes.

[Venomous 18,813]

I was actually considering heading to Midwest Furfest because it's so close to where I live 

 

I honestly hope that nobody was hurt...

Furries are so down-to-earth and friendly individuals.

As someone who lives in the Chicago area, that is freaking scary. Oh my god it's Dashcon all over agian. GET THE BALL PIT!

I'm adjacent to the Chicago area, too

[Guest]

Might be a "hater", might be a disgruntled furry, whatever the case might be. Point is, this was not an accident, as I've seen some people on other forums claim. For the record, ever heard of any sort of cleaning personnel whom carry chlorine in glass jars?

Edited December 11, 2014 by Guest

[Zoraxe 546]

I'm pretty surprised, to be honest. The internet drama involving furries and non-furs has died down in recent years, there is nowhere near as much drama on the internet about furries than there used to be.

 

So this is out of left field, probobly carried out by some loner with issues.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Zoraxe