Explosion at Harvard Medical School was intentional, authorities say – National
Police at the Ivy League university said a lone responding officer encountered two unidentified individuals but was unable to apprehend them, university police told The Associated Press.
The suspects fled from the medical school’s Goldenson building before the officer arrived after the explosion triggered an alert, police said.
The explosion happened on the fourth floor of the building, where labs and offices associated with the medical school’s department of neurobiology are located.
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The Boston Fire Department determined that the explosion was intentional and no additional incendiary devices were found during a sweep of the building, police said.
“The small section of the fourth-floor hallway where the explosion took place has been cleared and is fully operational. There was no structural damage to the building, and all labs and equipment remain intact,” George Q. Daley, dean of the faculty of medicine, said in a statement.
The Harvard University Police Department’s investigation is active and ongoing, the statement says, adding that it will “maintain an increased presence on campus.”
Police released grainy photos of two suspects wearing face coverings, but did not make any mention of a potential motive.
In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump has targeted Harvard University, threatening billions of dollars in funding cuts and a series of investigations into its governance and policies.
In April, the Trump administration froze US$2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts after the institution refused to adhere to the president’s request to clamp down on student activism on campus.
The hold on Harvard’s funding marked just one step in a series of moves made by the Trump administration to force compliance with his political agenda, having targeted Columbia University, Brown University, Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania.
In July, Columbia agreed to pay $220 million to the federal government to restore $400 million in research funding that was frozen in March. Similarly, in July, the University of Pennsylvania received $175 million in frozen funds after it agreed to change its policy on transgender athletes, including blocking transgender athletes from joining female sports teams, CNN reported.
Harvard sued the president shortly after he froze financing in April.
“The Government has not — and cannot — identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives, foster American success, preserve American security, and maintain America’s position as a global leader in innovation,” the university wrote in its lawsuit, filed in Boston federal court.
On Sept. 3, a federal judge ruled the Trump administration’s funding freeze unlawful. On Oct. 14, the university newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, reported that most of the funding it lost had been restored but was taking some time to flow back through Harvard’s coffers.
Police have not made any connection between the Trump administration’s actions against Harvard and those of the purported suspects.
— With files from The Associated Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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