Someone deliberately set off an explosion that rocked a Harvard Medical School building early Saturday, arson investigators said.
No one was hurt in the 2:48 a.m. fourth-floor blast in the campus’ Goldenson Building, which fronts a grassy quad on the university’s Longwood Campus, police told WCVB-TV. A Harvard University Police Department officer responding to a fire alarm at that hour tried to stop two people he saw fleeing the building, but they got away, the department said. He then went to the source of the alarm and found the debris. Authorities did not reveal the exact site or extent of damage.
Boston Fire Department arson investigators determined the explosion was intentional. The Boston Police Department swept the building for hidden incendiary devices and found nothing.
Surveillance video caught two hoodie-clad masked men inside the building, and authorities released their photos in hopes someone from the public could help identify them.
School administrators confirmed in a memo to Goldenson staff Saturday evening that the building had “been cleared and remains open” aside from the fourth floor, The Harvard Crimson reported. At the same time the memo urged people to steer clear until Monday.
“If you had not intended to or do not need to come to campus this weekend, you should not come in,” officials said, according to a copy obtained by The Harvard Crimson.
AP Photo/Charles Krupa
Harvard Medical School in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The blast left students “shocked” and “scared,” two of them told WBZ-TV, worried that it might be the start of recurring incidents.
“It was hard for me to fall asleep again last night after hearing that,” one student told WBTS. “My heart was racing, and then I tried to fall asleep, and then five minutes later I heard another bang — a second one.”
University, state and local police, with an FBI assist, were investigating Sunday.
With News Wire Services
