Hundreds of Harvard University students on Friday afternoon received emails threatening their lives, according to a community advisory posted on the Harvard University website.
“At about 4:45 this afternoon,” the advisory states, “hundreds of Harvard students and affiliates received an emailed death threat. The author threatened to come to campus ‘tomorrow’ to shoot the email recipients. Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) immediately began investigating, and also notified other local law enforcement agencies as well as the FBI.”
Initial findings on Saturday morning suggest that the email originated from overseas. “As a result, it appears at this time that the threat may not be credible,” the campus police department said in a statement. The investigation is ongoing and Harvard will maintain a heightened security presence through the weekend.
On Friday evening, university officials asked that community members familiarize themselves with the school’s “Active Shooter Safety Guidelines,” and promised an increased university police presence across campus throughout the weekend. According to a statement by Harvard Police released late Friday, “the campus remains open and operations have not been curtailed.” Earlier this week, on Wednesday, Sandy Hook Elementary School near Newtown, Connecticut, was evacuated following a bomb threat. One day earlier, two U.S. schools were placed on lockdown following separate incidents – one in North Carolina and one in Kentucky – with individuals carrying and firing guns on academic grounds. And just last week, Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, was placed on lockout for more than two hours because of an undisclosed “threat.”
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