Four Black students residing at Harvard University found themselves at the center of a gun-toting raid by SWAT following a false report about an armed individual on the premises.
The Crimson reported the incident happened at around 4 a.m. Monday, April 3 in an undergraduate suite in a resident hall, Leverett House. Inside the campus suite were senior classmates Jarah K. Cotton, Jazmin N. Dunlap, Alexandra C. Rene, and David G. Madzivanyika, according to Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) spokesperson Steven G. Catalano.
The senior students woke up to loud bangs and rifles in their faces when Harvard University Police Department officers ordered them into the hallway for a report of “threatening violence against occupants”.
The Leverett House residents were then instructed to leave their hands raised and to go into a neighboring suite.
Other students in the dorm woke up to the alarming sounds of the raid in progress. SWAT searched the suite for firearms but did not find any harmful objects, according to Catalano.
“Negative results for an induvial with a firearm or any persons acting in a suspicious manner,” Catalano told The Crimson.
Officers determined that an anonymous person reported a false emergency that led to the chaos and trauma.
“We were all extremely scared, particularly because my roommates and I are Black students who have been bombarded our whole lives with stories and images portraying how situations such as this had ended up terribly,” Cotton told the Harvard University publication.
Following the mayhem, Harvard University issued a statement about the threat.
“Many members of our community are understandably scared, frustrated, angry, and upset that something like this could happen on Harvard’s campus. We understand that the implications, fears, and trauma of an incident like this land differently for the impacted students and communities of color more broadly. The College will continue to work with our University partners to ensure a safe campus and to support you during this difficult time,” Rakesh Khurana Danoff, Dean of Harvard College wrote.
While the incident remains under investigation by HUPD, the threat call has been tied to similar calls to school districts across the western and southeastern parts of the state, Massachusetts State Police explained.
