Lawyer investigating lead at Indiana housing complex

Shantel Allen, right, a resident of the West Calumet Housing Complex, speaks during a news conference with her husband, Charles, on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016, in Munster, Ind. The Environmental Protection Agency has detected high levels of lead in samples of dust and dirt tracked inside homes where soil is tainted with industrial contaminants. The contamination has resulted in the city calling for the demolition of the low-income complex and relocating its 1,000 residents. (AP Photo/Tae-Gyun Kim)

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) — An attorney for families in an Indiana public housing complex slated to be demolished because of lead contamination says he's investigating whether public officials knew about the problem and allowed children to be "poisoned."

Officials in East Chicago notified some 1,000 residents about the soil contamination this summer.

The complex is on the former site of a plant that melted lead and copper. It was added to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list of priority cleanup sites in 2009.

City attorney Carla Morgan says East Chicago officials learned the extent of the problem at specific addresses in the complex in May.

Attorney Barry Rooth says blood tests have shown some of the 85 children he represents have unsafe lead levels. State officials previously said preliminary blood tests indicated 29 people with high lead levels.

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