Copyright The Boston Globe
The bureau said additional details will be released during a 1 p.m. briefing with US Attorney Leah B. Foley’s office. Harvard’s police department said that on Saturday, just before 3 a.m., one of its officers responded to a fire alarm at the Goldenson Building at 220 Longwood Ave., and saw two people fleeing. Inside, police said, the officer found evidence of an explosion in an area on the building’s fourth floor, which houses research labs for the school’s neurobiology department. The Boston Fire Department’s arson unit said it appeared to have been deliberate. Boston police swept the building and didn’t find any other explosives. By Sunday, a cleanup was underway, and school officials said it would be back to functioning normally by Monday. “The small section of the fourth-floor hallway where the explosion took place has been cleared and is fully operational,” according to a message to the medical school sent by George Daley, dean of the faculty of medicine, and Lisa Muto, executive dean for administration. “There was no structural damage to the building, and all labs and equipment remain intact. Cleaning crews are on site to help ensure everything is ready for the beginning of the work week tomorrow.” Harvard released images of two masked suspects and asked for the public’s help in identifying them. The Ivy League school has maintained vigilance on potential attackers given its high profile and tension with the Trump administration. Earlier this year, the university said it would pay security expenses for Harvard Hillel, a Jewish campus organization, amid fears of antisemitic violence. Harvard was also targeted by a bomb threat in 2023. A New Hampshire man was sentenced in 2024 to three years’ probation after he was found to have brought a hoax device to Harvard’s Science Center Plaza in Cambridge in 2023. Investigators later found he’d unwittingly been recruited to do so after answering a Craigslist ad, in a scheme allegedly orchestrated by someone else, who later called the university demanding a large amount of cryptocurrency. Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. This story will be updated.
