Harvard University lifts 'shelter in place' order, person of interest sought

Flint McColgan, Boston Herald on Oct 24, 2025

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BOSTON — Hours after police lifted a shelter-in-place warning after a gun was fired near Radcliffe Quad at Harvard University, a person of interest was broadcast.

The Cambridge police issued photos of that person, asking anyone who recognizes him or has any information on the incident to call detectives at 617-349-3121.

It was a tense time earlier until the all-clear was announced.

“Cambridge Police has communicated that there is no ongoing public safety risk at this time,” a Harvard emergency alert update at around 11:50 a.m. stated. “The shelter in place is lifted. Please continue to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity.”

Cambridge Police Department officers responded to multiple 911 reports just before 11 a.m. of gunshots on Sherman Street near the intersection with Stearns Street, which is near Danehy Park. Harvard University was concerned because it’s also near the campus’s Radcliffe Quad.

Officers arrived and recovered ballistic evidence and took witness statements confirming a shooting had happened, according to the CPD. The witness interviews suggested that two or three people had some sort of altercation in the street.

Initial statements from Harvard on its emergency alert system indicated that the person on a bicycle had been the one to fire the shots and then cycled off toward Garden Street, though the CPD statement did not state this.

Harvard’s earliest alert told students to “please avoid the area and shelter in place.”

“CPD and (the Harvard University Police Department) continue to search for the suspect on the bicycle. Avoid the Quad area and continue to shelter in place,” that alert continued. “If you are inside a building, stay there.”

The shots-fired call that the Cambridge Police Department is responding to happened on Sherman Street, which the university says is near Radcliffe Quad. The Cambridge Police Department reported that an unidentified male on a bicycle shot at another person on Sherman Street and then sped off toward Garden Street.

CPD Sgt. Robert Reardon told The Boston Herald at around 11:50 p.m. that there were “no known victims or on-going public safety risk.”

“Out of an abundance of caution, Harvard University issued a shelter-in-place and notifications were made to nearby schools and places of interest,” Reardon wrote in a statement at around 3:15 p.m. “Available evidence suggests that this was an isolated incident with those directly involved, there is no on-going public safety risk to the broader community. Sherman St. and several surrounding roadways were closed while CPD Detectives processed the scene. All roadways have since re-opened.”