Residents of a South Lawrence apartment complex were greeted by an unsettling sight Friday afternoon as officers in white HazMat suits carried bottles of chemicals commonly used to manufacture methamphetamine from a second-floor apartment.

“I know things like this can catch on fire,” Debra Cassella said, watching the commotion unfold at Park Plaza South Apartments, 2530 Redbud Lane. “This is not appropriate for young children, and there are a few running around here.”

Officers with the Lawrence-Douglas County Drug Enforcement Unit, along with federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration executed a search warrant at the apartment around 2 p.m. Friday.

Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off the upper level apartment.

Lawrence police Sgt. Max Miller said the search warrant was part of an ongoing drug investigation.

Miller would not confirm that the officers uncovered a meth lab, but several of the bottles of chemicals strewn about the front yard of the complex are commonly used to manufacture the drug.

Miller said he expected officials with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment would be called in to clean up the scene.

Neighbors said they weren’t surprised by the drug bust.

“There’s been a lot of traffic coming and going from that apartment,” Cassella said. “I know they’ve been watching. The other day I saw a cop with binoculars watching the apartment.”

Miller said the items seized would have to be sent for testing before they could confirm what any of the substances were. He said arrests in the case are pending.