A package exploded on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston on Tuesday night, and the institution reported that a member of its staff suffered minor injuries. Authorities announced that another suspicious package was found near a major art museum, and the FBI is assisting with the investigation.
The package that exploded was one of two that were reported to police during the afternoon. The Boston Bomb Squad responded to the location where a second package was found near the city’s Museum of Fine Arts, which is just outside the Northeastern campus.
NBC Boston reported that the package exploded while being opened near the university’s Holmes Hall, where the university’s creative writing program is taught. The television station indicated that the FBI was helping with the investigation.
Authorities declined to provide further details, but Northeastern spokeswoman Shannon Nargi said in a statement that an unidentified staff member suffered minor injuries from the blast.
Police descended on campus shortly before 7:30 p.m., and the university asked students who had gathered for an evening journalism class to evacuate the building.
Northeastern is a private university in downtown Boston. WCVB said one of its reporters, Mike Beaudet, was teaching a class at the scene at the time of the blast. Beaudet told the station that the class was held outdoors and neither he nor his students heard the blast.
Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which are located across the Charles River that separates Boston from Cambridge, said they had stepped up security on their campuses as a precaution and they asked their students and staff to report anything suspicious.