Today’s shooting at Harvard University’s Kirkland House reminds us of how fragile is human life and how less are our students protected. Harvard shooting left one person shot. The victim is a college age student, but it’s not clear if the person is a Harvard University student.
Havard students were preparing for the final exams where the shooting near Kirkland House shattered their peace and calm. According to Bostong.com “Sergeant James DeFrancesco of the Cambridge Police said that after authorities were alerted about 4:50 p.m. they found the victim on Dunster Street, outside Kirkland House, one of Harvard’s 12 undergraduate houses. DeFrancesco said the victim was taken to the hospital and was in stable condition.”
Harvard Crimson reports the details
Unidentified ‘college-aged’ male is shot in Kirkland House. House Master says Kirkland residents not involved; identities of victim and shooter still unknown.
An unidentified man was shot sometime before 5 p.m. Monday in the basement of J-Entry of Kirkland House, in what House Master Tom Conley is calling “in most likelihood, a targeted shooting.”
The victim was bleeding from the lower torso but still conscious, according to Dental School student Jared M. Sprague, who says he helped support the victim after the shooting. Sprague said the victim appeared to be a “college-aged” African American.
According to Conley, the victim was not a Harvard student.
Conley, who spoke to police shortly after the shooting, also said two to three suspects fled the scene after the incident. He added that the victim was in stable condition and had been brought to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
In response to a question about whether police were looking for a gunman, Cambridge Police Department spokesman James DeFrancesco responded that it was “very possible.” DeFrancesco said he did not know whether the victim was a Harvard student.
At 7:20 p.m., a line of 11 Harvard and Cambridge police officers spaced themselves out across the grassy Malkin Athletic Center quad, walking toward Kirkland from the Lowell House side with heads bent as if looking for something.
Multiple students told The Crimson that they heard three noises that sounded like gunshots shortly before 5 p.m.
Bryant Bonner ‘09, a student in E entry of Kirkland, said he heard bangs, then “saw three people running from J entryway through my window. They were wearing baseball caps.”
Greta Friar ‘11, who lives J-entry, said she heard three shots and immediately after someone saying, “Shit, shit! Oh, shit!” Friar said she later saw bullet casings on the stairwell in the entryway.
Kirkland House Masters Tom and Verena Conley notified the House of the shooting in an e-mail sent at 5:32 p.m. A Harvard University text message alert was sent to students subscribed to the system 13 minutes later.
“We ask everyone to cooperate with the police and staff in the hours ahead,” the House Masters wrote. “We will apprise everyone of further developments.”
Around 8 p.m., University President Drew G. Faust walked into Kirkland, telling a reporter she was there to address students.
Sprague, the dental student who said he helped the victim, said he walking towards the Malkin Athletic Center from Education School when he saw the victim stumbling toward him. Another woman on the scene called 911 upon witnessing the student’s distress, Sprague said.
A portion of Dunster Street was been blocked off starting at Mt. Auburn Street and extending south after police arrived on the scene.
Massachusetts, Cambridge, and Harvard police were all on the scene as of 6:30 p.m. News helicopters were also hovering overhead midway through the hour.
