‘Traumatized’ Harvard students held at gunpoint by campus security in ‘swatting’ incident

At least four undergraduate students at Harvard were held at gunpoint by campus police officers following a false police call about an armed individual in the campus dorms on Monday morning. 

The four seniors, who are Black, told The Harvard Crimson that they were asleep in their Leverett House dorm suite around 4 a.m. on Monday morning when loud banging on their door woke them. Shortly after, at least five armed Harvard University police officers entered the suite, pointed their rifles at the students and instructed them to exit their rooms with their hands raised.

“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,” one of the residents, Jarah K. Cotton, told the Crimson. 

“We felt our lives were in danger. We are traumatized.”

In a statement after the incident, HUPD Chief Victor Clay confirmed they received three calls over the course of nearly an hour from a male who said he had a female hostage he had attempted to fatally injure but clarified that the hostage was still alive. 

“The caller stated that he had been a student at Harvard this semester but had been “kicked out,” Clay said. 

Clay added that the caller had detailed information on how the dormitories are referenced by community members. By the third time he called, the caller said he was armed. 

“He first threatened to shoot law enforcement who entered the room, and then later threatened to leave the room and that he would start shooting as he did so,” Clay said.

HUPD called two of the seniors, both female students, before arriving on the scene, but the two told the Crimson they were asleep at the time of the calls and did not answer. 

At about 4:15 a.m., the officers knocked on the door of the room. According to Clay’s statement, officers did announce their presence to the residents and they were able to enter the suite with a key. 

The statement confirmed the officers were armed and the students were directed to exit their suite into the hallway with their hands visible “to ensure that no one possessed a weapon, based on the indications by the caller that a weapon was present in the room.” 

A search of the room by HUPD found there were no injuries or threat. 

“We acknowledge that the presence of police officers in the early morning hours in one of the College’s residential Houses can, and in this case did, raise fears and anxiety,” Clay said. “Entering a residential House is not something that HUPD does without cause or takes lightly. The steps taken by HUPD are aligned with law enforcement protocols, which HUPD officers are trained on. The steps we take are based on an assessment of the level of potential threat to members of our community with regards to a potential public safety situation.”

The false police call was an apparent “swatting” incident, a type of harassment that deliberately calls for police officers — often SWAT teams — to respond to fabricated dangerous situations. 

Though swatting has received increased attention over the last few years as high-profile celebrities have been the victims of such incidents, swatting can be deadly. In 2017, 28-year-old Kansas resident Andrew Finch was killed by police in his home after a swatting call was made. 

In Massachusetts, where Harvard is located, 28 communities have reported swatting calls since a deadly mass shooting in Nashville, Tenn., last month, according to NBC10 Boston.

In a statement to the dorm house’s residents, Interim Resident Dean John Nowak and Faculty Deans Daniel G. Deschler and Eileen E. Reynolds sent out an email Monday morning describing the raid but reassuring students there was no immediate danger. They also offered school counseling resources to the students.

“We all process activities like this morning’s differently,” the deans wrote. “Please check in with yourself and on each other and let us know if you have any concerns for yourself or your fellow community members.”