Easter Day School Shooting at Harvard Square forces students to shelter in place

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard University students and faculty were ordered to shelter in place Sunday afternoon following reports of gunshots at the Harvard Square MBTA station, sparking a multi-agency police search for a suspect. The incident, which unfolded around 2 p.m., disrupted transit services and heightened tensions in the bustling campus area.

According to an emergency alert issued by the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) at 2:45 p.m., MBTA Transit Police reported shots fired at the Harvard Square station.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene. Briana M. Carbajal ’26, who was at the Red Line station, told The Harvard Crimson she heard three or four shots and saw a man fleeing the station with a handgun. Another student, Marcos Garcia ’28, reported seeing the suspect run toward Brattle Street and into Harvard Square. “I already talked to the police, and they are looking for him right now in Brattle Square and the Yard,” Garcia said (The Harvard Crimson, April 20, 2025).

A second HUPD alert at 3:08 p.m. urged affiliates to continue sheltering in place as the search for the suspect remained ongoing. By 3:18 p.m., the university announced the search had concluded, lifting the shelter-in-place order. It remains unclear whether any injuries occurred or if the suspect was apprehended, as spokespeople for the MBTA Transit Police, Massachusetts State Police, and Cambridge Police Department did not immediately respond to inquiries (The Harvard Crimson, April 20, 2025).

The MBTA reported significant disruptions, with Red Line service between Central and Alewife stations replaced by shuttle buses due to police activity. Delays of approximately 25 minutes were reported, according to an MBTA post on X at 2:25 p.m. (WCVB, April 20, 2025).

The incident comes amid heightened concerns about gun violence on U.S. campuses. A recent opinion piece in The Harvard Crimson criticized Harvard’s lack of mandatory gun violence readiness training, noting that universities like UNC Chapel Hill and Michigan State have faced similar crises (The Harvard Crimson, Feb. 2, 2025).

Authorities have not released further details about the suspect or the circumstances of the shooting. The investigation continues, with Cambridge Police, MBTA Transit Police, Massachusetts State Police, and HUPD collaborating to ensure campus safety (NBC Boston, April 20, 2025).

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