CHATSWORTH : Fatal Laughing Gas May Have Come From Hospital
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Los Angeles police said Monday they are investigating whether two tanks of nitrous oxide--so-called laughing gas--linked to the accidental deaths of three young men were stolen from a hospital where one of the victims formerly worked.
On Friday, three men were found dead of apparent asphyxiation in the cab of a pickup truck parked in Chatsworth. There was a 80-pound cylinder of nitrous oxide in the bed of the truck and another with the victims in the cab. The second cylinder was emitting gas from a partially open valve when police found the bodies.
Police and Holy Cross Medical Center officials said that three weeks ago someone with a key stole two gas cylinders identical to those found in the pickup from a locked and walled storage area at the Mission Hills hospital.
One victim, Michael Cook, 23, of Sherman Oaks had been employed at the hospital as a maintenance worker until October and had access to a key to the storage area, said hospital spokeswoman Maggie Cessar.
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