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Updated October 24, 2025, at 1:17 p.m.
Harvard police lifted a shelter-in-place alert issued after an unidentified male shot at another person on Sherman Street near the Radcliffe Quad on Friday morning.
The Harvard University Police Department issued an order to shelter in place shortly after 11 a.m. Friday. The Cambridge Police Department wrote that there is no “on-going public safety risk at this time” in a statement released on X at 11:48, and HUPD lifted the shelter-in-place order several minutes after.
The suspected shooter was seen traveling on a bicycle towards Garden Street, which runs from North Cambridge to the Radcliffe Quad and Harvard Square, according to the initial HUPD alert.
A second HUPD alert, sent via the MessageMe text and email system roughly 10 minutes after the first, stated the Cambridge Police Department and HUPD were continuing to search for the suspected shooter, and advised affiliates to avoid the Quad and remain sheltered indoors. A third alert, sent at roughly 11:30 a.m., reported that the suspected shooter may have been heading toward Harvard Square.
The Cambridge Police Department recovered “ballistic evidence” from the shooting and confirmed that there were no known victims, according to another alert.
HUPD and CPD were not able to locate the suspect, according to an email sent by HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano shortly after 1 p.m., which asked anyone with information about the incident to contact CPD.
All Harvard shuttles were briefly stopped, according to a message sent from PassioGO shortly after the shelter in place order, but resumed service shortly before noon. A Currier House administrator wrote in an email to House residents that all shuttles would remain stopped until the emergency is cleared.
A handful of students and Cambridge residents remained outside in the Quad about 20 minutes after the first alert was sent, though the Quad Lawn was empty as of 11:40 a.m. Staff for at least one of the residential houses instructed students to remain inside.
—Staff writer Matan H. Josephy can be reached at matan.josephy@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @matanjosephy.
—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart.
