An evacuation was issued at Harvard University Monday when officials say someone emailed a phony bomb threat. Several agencies working with the authorities, including the FBI, came down on the campus when they were alerted to the threat shortly after 9 a.m.
Once the threat was made, students, faculty and the staff were immediately alerted by emails and text messages telling them to evacuate all the buildings. “Alert: Unconfirmed reports of explosives at four sites on campus,” read one message on twitter from the school. Another tweet said “HUPD and CPD are on the scene and investigating, stand by for more info. View emergency page for updates.” “We all left the room not knowing what was going on,” said Matt Earle a junior at the college. “We got a text message saying that there were reports of a bomb and we would be outside for a while.”
Harvard University police ordered the evacuation of the buildings and helped in searching for any suspicious devices, the school said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, the buildings have been evacuated while the report is investigated and Harvard’s focus is on the safety of our students, faculty and staff.”
The email said that explosives were placed in four buildings at the schools campus. These include the science center, Thayer Hall, Sever Hall and Emerson Hall. They were immediately evacuated. The bomb threat was later found to be a prank. According to The Harvard Crimson, the schools newspaper, the “students erupted in cheers when the school announced that final exams scheduled for the day would be canceled.”
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