Boston University Rafik B. Hariri Building on 1 Silber Way was evacuated Monday afternoon due a suspicious package investigated by the Boston University Police Department and the Boston Police Department.
A BU Alert was sent out at 4:04 p.m. alerting the BU community of the evacuation, and the police had “evacuated the building as a precaution,” encouraging people to avoid the area.
BU spokesperson Colin Riley explained the situation.
“It began a little after 3 p.m. when a package was opened and concerned the person who opened it, who called police,” he said. “BUPD responded and called in Boston Police to bring their assets to look closely at it.”
A police dispatch posted to Broadcastify.com wrote that the BUPD were on the scene at President Robert Brown’s office at 3:41 p.m. According to the dispatch, a package “with wires” was in room 822, which is not Brown’s office.
“No, it’s not in my office,” Brown said at the scene. “Yes, (I had spoken to the police,) but didn’t learn anything of use.”
Alexa Marberger, a junior in the Questrom School of Business said she was in her Operations Management class and was told to go outside when the fire alarms went off.
“We thought it was a fire related thing, but then there were a bunch of cop cars,” Marberger said. “Then we heard there was a suspicious package on the 8th floor.”
Marcel Rindisbacher, a finance professor and senior associate dean at Questrom, said he had to cancel ongoing Questrom classes for the following hour.
“The alarm system went off, and then a message came … we all took the stairs and walked down,” Rindisbacher said. “We just canceled class until 5 and then will follow with an update for evening classes depending on the situation here.”
At 4:47 p.m., another BU Alert notified the community that the scene was all clear.
“All classes are continuing safely,” Riley said. “There was no threat. It was just a package that concerned the person who opened it.”
Details regarding the package and the incident will be determined by the BUPD according to Riley.
“They didn’t expect the package. It was just a couple of different things, but that’s part of the investigation that BU police will finalize,” he said.
Tanisha Bhat, Matthew Eadie, Sangmin Song, and Renee Yang contributed to the reporting of the article.
