A suspicious package found at Northeastern University in Boston exploded on campus, injuring a school employee. The FBI is taking a role in an investigation, as officers determine how the parcel wound up on school grounds and the exact cause of the explosion.
A package delivered to the university’s Holmes Hall went off as a 45-year-old staffer attempted to open it on Tuesday evening, Boston Police Superintendent Felipe Colon told reporters during a press conference. According to a school spokesperson, the employee suffered “minor injuries and is being treated.”
Law enforcement noted that the blast took place around 7:15pm local time, and urged members of the community to be “cautious” and to “report any suspicious packages” they might see in the area.
The apparent bomb scare triggered an evacuation of the building, while the Boston Police bomb squad was called in to clear the hall. The motives of the individual who placed the package at Holmes Hall is still unknown to authorities, who are continuing to investigate. The FBI’s Boston Division is assisting the probe, a bureau spokesperson told CNN.
No suspects have been identified publicly and no arrests have been made.
The university’s own police department said the area in question is “currently contained” in a tweet around 10pm, several hours after the explosion was first reported, while the department’s chief Michael Davis later stressed that the campus is “secure.”
According to the Boston Herald, a second “suspicious package” was discovered but later “rendered safe” by the police bomb squad, while a separate “suspicious device” was also found near the city’s Museum of Fine Arts, located close to the university, a Boston NBC affiliate reported.