Watch: Federal agents swarm Chicago train

It was stunning for those who watched Thursday night as federal agents investigated a possible nuclear threat at Chicago's Ogilvie Transportation Center.

A photojournalist for CBS affiliate WBBM in Chicago, Lana Hinshaw-Klann, happened to be at the scene and used a cell-phone camera to record agents in action.

Watch the report and video below.

Sources say the agents were members of the elite TSA VIPR team on the 5:04pm Union Pacific West line. They were carrying hand-held nuclear-detection devices that picked up a reading.

VIPR teams were created after the 2004 bombing of a train in Madrid, Spain, to protect U.S. transportation.

At the Ogilvie station, officers held the train and searched for a person or bag that posed a potential nuclear threat.

Jerry Jones, a Chicago lawyer, was heading home on that train. He says the federal officers narrowed the trouble to the area where he was sitting.

"I had no idea I was the center of the activity," he says.

The special security team must have picked up on him as he entered the station and walked up the stairs, Jones says. Little did he know a nuclear stress test he had at a hospital earlier in the day had set off silent alarms and sent security scurrying.

The TSA team passed by him several times before ending up on his train car. Finally, he got a clue when an agent questioned the man right next to him and asked, 'Sir, do you have an explanation as to why I am getting a high isotope reading on your bag?'"

"The fellow's jaw dropped," Jones said.

Once the agent said the word "isotope," Jones says he realized he was the one they were looking for. He raised his hand to say he had a nuclear stress test.

The tests can leave patients emitting radiation for some time. After showing identification and proof of the nuclear test, Jones and the other passengers were allowed to go on their way.

He says he's satisfied with the way authorities acted, "knowing there are people on the lookout for this type of thing," and was pleased with the way officers and passengers behaved.

Patients undergoing nuclear testing can request a card they can give to security if they travel afterward. Doctors have done this for air travelers.

[rwsmith29456]

So it turned out to be no big deal. No one was beaten or arrested. No news is good news.

[dustin93sc]

Federal Agents should be at Chicago to bust white Hippies vending their drugs. Freaks freely deal LSD, rohypnol, MDMA, hashish, methamphetamine, and PCP to unsuspecting Teens. They consider Illinois as a base of operations for trafficking of concocted dope to the East Coast.

[AndyInFargo]

haha, what are you talking about? you're hardly unsuspecting if you are buying hard drugs like pcp, date rape drugs, and who the hell does acid anymore much less even buys it( this is NOT 1968)....white Hippies? All Hippies are at a minimum 55 or older...hardly teenagers. I have no clue where your rant is based in reality at all.

[democracy8]

Same old nonsense as usual from dustin93sc.

[R_Mark_H]

I suspect those griping about this train being stopped are the type who look for any excuse to gripe about anything.

[democracy8]

Exactly...

[Frankenfiah]

Having done this stuff for 30 years, don't believe everything you see on TV and The News.
This is just a feint to keep the bad guys on their toes. We don't have anything that sophisticated. But the Bad guys don't know that.
Got any idea how many stress tests are done everyday in the US. They would be swarming every train in the country.

[Look_Its_Life]

If you had really been doing this "stuff" for 30 years, you wouldn't have posted such a comment. Having been a design engineer for around the same amount of time, I know this and even more advanced tech IS available. Additionally, the type of stress test mentioned is not common, most are done without the use of any type of radiation. Please, go back to your parent's basement and continue living vicariously through your Tom Clancy games...

[thinker7456]

It's good that they were able to detect this low level "contamination". This event suggests that they would pick up on terrorist activity involving nuclear materials.

[WiseAsOwl]

This seems like a very "positive" occurrence. It's good to see we're getting some protection for our money and efforts..

[retiredgustav]

NEWSTER9O2LO ... you never know for sure if one of these"old men" may be carrying a dirty bomb. TSA well done!

[Aussiebobbie]

terrorists could have a test and then still have a bomb, using it to get past security ..

[Krowster]

Well., at least he didn't explode.

[RedDeath50]

If this had been the TSA, they would have strip searched him and confiscated any oversize bottle of shampoo or tube of toothpaste he might have been carrying!

[retiredgustav]

Read.........The TSA team passed by him several times before ending up on his train car. Finally, he got a clue when an agent questioned the man right next to him and asked, 'Sir, do you have an explanation as to why I am getting a high isotope reading on your bag?'

[raymailhot]

The agent asked a very easy to answer question and got a good reply. I was impressed with the behavior of the agent. By the fact these agents are looking at residual radiation, the radiation meters the agents are carrying are probably not going to discern enough to tell if the source is a threat or not.