Campus Alert Archive
MIT

A Campus Police Officer Killed in His Cruiser, Then a City-Wide Manhunt That Locked Down Boston

MApolice activityemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On April 18, 2013, MIT Police Officer Sean Collier was shot and killed in his patrol car outside the Stata Center (Building 32) by the Tsarnaev brothers, the Boston Marathon bombers. MIT issued an emergency alert at 10:48 PM warning that the situation was 'active and extremely dangerous.' The following day, a shelter-in-place order shut down the entire Boston metropolitan area during the manhunt for the surviving suspect.

Alerts
3
Response
23 min
Killed
1
Injured
0
Institution
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Private R1 · MA
~11,500 studentsMIT Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Verified verbatimThe Tech (MIT student newspaper) Twitter post relaying the verbatim MIT ALERT at 10:48 PM EDT on April 18, 201398 chars
#MIT ALERT: Shots fired near 32 Vassar St (Stata Center), police officer down. Please stay inside.
Issued at 10:48 PM EDT, approximately 23 minutes after Officer Collier was shot at around 10:25 PM
Identifies the location by both building number (32) and name (Stata Center) — MIT navigates campus by number more than street address
'Police officer down' borrows law-enforcement radio code rather than typical campus-alert phrasing — a stark indicator of severity
At this point, the connection to the Boston Marathon bombing was not yet publicly known
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstruction304 chars
An MIT Police officer has been shot and has suffered life-threatening injuries. The incident occurred near Building 32 (Stata Center). MIT community members on or near campus are advised to stay indoors until further notice. Multiple law enforcement agencies are on scene and the investigation is active.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Describes injuries as 'life-threatening' rather than confirming the officer's death, which was confirmed later
References multiple law enforcement agencies, as Cambridge Police, Massachusetts State Police, and FBI all responded
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstruction317 chars
MIT classes are cancelled today, Friday, April 19. All members of the MIT community are asked to shelter in place until further notice as law enforcement conducts operations in the Cambridge, Watertown, and greater Boston area. Do not open the door for anyone other than a properly identified law enforcement officer.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reflects the unprecedented metropolitan-wide shelter-in-place order issued by Governor Deval Patrick
The directive to not open doors except for identified law enforcement was echoed across all Boston-area institutions and by the Governor himself
MIT was one of dozens of colleges and universities in the Boston area that cancelled operations during the manhunt
Context

Background

The killing of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier was a pivotal event in the aftermath of the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. On the evening of April 18, the Tsarnaev brothers drove to MIT's campus, where Tamerlan Tsarnaev approached Officer Collier's patrol car outside the Stata Center and shot him multiple times. The brothers then carjacked a vehicle in Cambridge, leading to a chase and shootout in Watertown in the early hours of April 19. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed during the confrontation; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev escaped on foot. The manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev prompted an unprecedented shelter-in-place order that effectively shut down the entire Boston metropolitan area on April 19. Governor Deval Patrick asked all residents to stay indoors with doors locked. MBTA transit was suspended. MIT cancelled classes, as did virtually every college and university in the region. The surviving suspect was found that evening hiding in a boat in a Watertown backyard. Officer Collier, 27, had served with the MIT Police for approximately 15 months. He was posthumously appointed as a full officer of the MIT Police Department. A memorial was later built in his honor near the Stata Center where he was killed. The after-action report for the bombing response documented the scale of the multi-agency coordination. The incident highlighted that campus police officers face the same lethal risks as municipal officers, and that campus emergency alert systems must be prepared to respond to threats originating far beyond typical campus incidents.
Analysis

Key Findings

MIT's alert at 10:48 PM used the phrase 'active and extremely dangerous,' an unusually direct characterization for a campus notification
The connection between the campus shooting and the Boston Marathon bombing was not immediately known, complicating initial alert messaging
The April 19 shelter-in-place was unprecedented in scale, covering the entire Boston metropolitan area and shutting down public transit
Officer Collier's killing demonstrated that campus police face the same lethal threats as municipal officers
MIT was one of dozens of Boston-area institutions simultaneously issuing shelter-in-place and closure notices during the manhunt
Outcome
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed during a shootout with police in Watertown early on April 19. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured hiding in a boat in Watertown that evening. Officer Sean Collier, 27, was posthumously appointed to the MIT Police Department.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    MIT classes cancelled April 19 in wake of tragedy - MIT News
    news.mit.edu
  2. News
    Boston Police: 1 Marathon Suspect Dead, 2nd Captured - WBUR
    wbur.org
  3. Student Paper
    After Fatal MIT Shooting, A Police Chase and Chaos in Cambridge - Harvard Crimson
    thecrimson.com
  4. Report
    After Action Report for the Response to the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings
    policinginstitute.org
Tags
police-activityofficer-killedmanhuntshelter-in-placeboston-marathon-bombingterrorismmulti-day-incident2013
Added April 2026Updated April 2026Via ingestion