CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - Frightened, startled and unsettled. That’s how several Harvard University students said they felt after police showed up at their door with guns drawn early Monday morning.
A meeting was held at the Leverett House on Monday night to discuss the incident, which officials now say was a false alarm stemming from a swatting call.
The incident happened at 4 a.m. in the Leverett Towers on the Harvard campus. Four seniors were inside their suite sleeping. When they didn’t answer calls from campus police around 3:50 a.m., the students say officers arrived at their door.
Harvard Senior Jarah Cotton said officers were “in full riot gear,” with shields, helmets and rifles drawn.
Cotton said officers told seniors in the suite to come out with their hands up.
“Of course, we complied because we didn’t know what was going on,” David Madzivanyika said. “We exited the room.”
Once the students got out and campus police cleared their suite, the students said officials explained what brought them there.
“It was a series of phone calls — first saying that there was an active shooter on campus, then specifically saying they were in Leverett House, in Leverett Towers, and then saying they were sent to kill the two girls in Leverett Tower F91,” Cotton said.
The university confirmed Harvard Police got a call early Monday morning for a potential threat at Leverett House, saying in a memo to students who live in the residence house, “The responding team arrived within minutes and was able to quickly clear the scene,” the university said. “HUPD confirms that there is no active or immediate threat to our House community.”
The FBI’s Boston division said it was made aware of the incident.
In regards to swatting calls like this one, the FBI said it estimates thousands of them are made every year.
7NEWS has reported on other such incidents, including a series of threats in February targeting schools. The February school threats, like the one at Harvard this week, were hoaxes.
At Harvard, students were still reeling on Monday night.
“I, at least, feel very dismissed by the university,” Alexandra Rene said.
Students are asking for more communication from the university, seeking a campus-wide response to what was initially viewed as a serious threat.
“This isn’t something that happens a lot, so I can understand how the first response is not the best response,” Rene said. “But there has been limited action to remedy the situation.”
“We should have some communication about how to be more due diligent,” Jazmin Dunlap said. “Just because this threat wasn’t imminent this time, doesn’t mean it won’t be next time.”
Harvard University Police and Harvard University did not share additional information on this incident beyond the memo that was sent to students at the Leverett House.
Speaking with 7NEWS, though, students involved in Monday morning’s incident said they want a memo sent to every student on campus at Harvard so everyone knows what happened in this situation.
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