Explosion at Northeastern University
Police and the university say that a package exploded at Northeastern University in Boston on Tuesday night. One of the staff members got a small cut on their hand.
Authorities say that the box was sent to Holmes Hall on Leon Street. At 7:18 p.m., police arrived at the building. Superintendent Felipe Colon of the Boston Police Department said that the bomb squad was able to make a second item that was the same as the first one safe.
What happened at the school?
According to two officials ABC News spoke with, the first thought of the police is that the small explosion on campus was not an accident.
Police and officials say that Boston EMS responded to the explosion at the university and took the 45-year-old victim to a nearby hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
An item that was brought to Holmes Hall “exploded when a member of staff opened it,” Northeastern University told WCVB, an ABC station in Boston.
What did the information say?
The two sources say that an explosive was not found in a second suspicious package that was looked at. Sources say that authorities have looked into a number of reports of suspicious packages and checked the buildings and mail rooms of Northeastern and other colleges in the area for items that look similar.
Michael Cox, the head of the Boston Police Department, said that a number of campus buildings were evacuated. He told people to come outside if they saw something strange.
So, what did the college say?
In a statement, the university said that the building had been cleared out and that the Boston campus had been warned at 7:55 p.m. “We will let the Northeastern community know as soon as new information is available,” the statement said.
Northeastern University police told people to stay away from the area around Holmes Hall on campus while they look into what happened.
Officials say that the bomb squad from the Boston Police Department, Boston EMS, and the Boston Fire Department were all there to look into what happened. A spokeswoman for the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau said that they are helping with the investigation.
School officials confirmed that when a package delivered to a building at Northeastern University was opened, it exploded, sending one person to the hospital.
At a news conference Tuesday night, Boston police said that a second package was also found and made safe by the bomb squad.
Northeastern University said the package was sent to Holmes Hall on Leon Street around 7 p.m. and exploded when a staff member opened it. That person, a 45-year-old man, had minor hand injuries and was taken to the hospital.
Police Give Update on the Bomb Investigation at Northeastern University
After a package exploded at a Northeastern University building on Tuesday, Boston police, the FBI, Mayor Michelle Wu, and others gave updates on the investigation.
The building was cleared out by the Boston Bomb Squad, Boston police, Boston fire, and Boston EMS. A person who spoke for the FBI said that they were helping with the investigation.
At the press conference on Tuesday night, when asked if there was a threat to the public, police said that the investigation was still going on and that more information would be given later. As investigators work, the Northeastern University police made it clear that the campus was safe.
Northeastern University Police Chief Michael Davis said, “It’s very important to know that our campus is safe and that it will always be safe.”
Former Massachusetts State Police trooper and security expert Todd McGhee thinks that investigators will still be able to learn something from the device, even though it blew up.
McGhee told NBC10 Boston, “Even if the device explodes, it doesn’t mean that the parts will fall apart.” “Therefore, there will be physical evidence that will be gathered and then, in a way, put back together to the point where we can understand all the parts that were used.”
People are on high alert because of what happened. Other colleges have warned students to report anything that seems strange.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said, “I take it very seriously that this city is home to everyone’s young people. We want to make it clear that the safety and well-being of all of our young people here is our top priority.”
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement, “We’re keeping an eye on what’s going on at Northeastern, and we’re ready to work with the school and our law enforcement partners on any prosecutions that may come up.” “The quick and thorough response by Boston Police and other agencies is the start of a thorough investigation to find out what happened here.”
Another suspicious package was found on Huntington Avenue, near the Museum of Fine Arts, and the police were called. Later, police said that was found to be false.
On Tuesday night, police were called to the 1100 block of Cambridge Street to look into a suspicious package. However, it turned out to be an empty suitcase that had been left behind.
When a package explodes at Northeastern, the police look into it
On Tuesday night, a package that was sent to the building exploded, so the police were looking into what happened.
Jacob Isaacs said he was in Holmes Hall for class when they were told to leave.
“We were in class when we saw two police officers walk through the building. When we looked out the window, we saw a fire truck with all its lights on. Our teacher said, ‘I’ve got to see what’s going on,’ and when he did, he saw that the fire truck was moving and there was a police car outside. As soon as that happened, the fire alarm went off,” he said.
Isaacs also said that they didn’t hear anything that sounded like an explosion before they saw first responders arrive.
“The police put up police tape right away and told everyone to move back to the main street. Then, one of the ladder trucks lifted a ladder up to the roof of the building, and a firefighter with what I think was an axe went up on top of the building,” said Ryan Di Corpo, another student who left the building.
Eliane Meja, who goes to Northeastern University, was there when everything went down.
“A bomb had just gone off, so we stayed here to see what else was going on. Then they started getting people out of that building. Even though it’s scary, I’m staying because I want to know what’s going on “She spoke Spanish.
Rafael Arias, another student, was on the other side of the building when the explosion happened.
“We just saw a bunch of police cars coming, and the sound was really scary. I’m scared for my safety because this building has a lot of bedrooms, so it scares me a lot. I was in another building next door. Until we got the alerts, we didn’t know what was going on “In Spanish, he said.
On Tuesday night, a package sent to an academic building in Boston exploded and hurt a worker at Northeastern University.
At 7:15 p.m., campus police were called to Holmes Hall because of a blast. The school’s journalism newsroom, the program for studying women, gender, and sexuality, and the campus writing lab are all in the brick building on Leon Street.
The 45-year-old man was taken to the hospital by ambulance, where he was treated for a minor hand injury, officials said. During a news conference Tuesday night, a police deputy superintendent named Felipe Colon said that a search of the area turned up another package that looked like the first one. The bomb squad of the Boston Police Department later decided that the second package was safe.
Michael Davis, the chief of police at Northeastern University, said that an officer was at Holmes Hall within a minute of the first call. Around 10 p.m. Tuesday night, the campus was locked down. An investigation is still going on to find out why the packages might have been sent to the campus and how they got there.
The Associated Press said that the second package was found near Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, on the edge of the Northeastern campus. The police didn’t say who the packages were sent to.
On Sept. 13, a package sent to Holmes Hall at Boston’s Northeastern University exploded. Emergency workers and police responded. (Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters)
More than 6,000 staff and faculty work at the private university, which has about 22,000 first-year students. Students got emergency messages Tuesday night telling them to stay away from the area, and classes were canceled in at least six campus buildings. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, two other schools in the Boston area, also sent out warnings.
At the news conference, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said that making sure schools are safe is one of the city’s top priorities.
Wu said, “I take very seriously the fact that this city is home to everyone from our youngest students to college students and university staff.”
Campus police say that the Northeastern campus will be open on Wednesday
BOSTON — Late Tuesday, a package exploded on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston. The school said that a staff member was hurt only slightly.
Authorities said that they found another suspicious package near a well-known art museum, and the FBI was helping with the investigation.
Early in the evening, the police were told about two packages. One of them blew up. The Boston bomb squad took care of a second package near the Northeastern campus, near the city’s Museum of Fine Arts.
NBC Boston said that the package that went off went off as it was being opened near the university’s Holmes Hall, which is where the creative writing program and the women’s, gender, and sexuality studies program are. It said that the FBI was helping with the probe.
Authorities wouldn’t say more, but a spokesperson for Northeastern, Shannon Nargi, said in a statement that an unnamed member of the university staff hurt his hand in the explosion. A Boston police superintendent named Felipe Colon said that the victim was a 45-year-old man.
Just before 7:30 p.m., police arrived on campus, and the university told the students who were in the hall for an evening journalism class to leave the building.
Northeastern is a private university in downtown Boston that has about 16,000 undergraduate students. WCVB-TV said that one of their reporters, Mike Beaudet, was there at the time teaching a class. Beaudet told the station that his class was moved outside, but neither he nor his students heard an explosion.