{ "id": "2023-05-22-harvard-business-school-aggravated-assault", "slug": "harvard-business-school-aggravated-assault-2023-05-22", "institution": { "name": "Harvard University", "shortName": "Harvard", "state": "MA", "type": "private-r1", "alertSystemName": "MessageMe", "alertPlatform": "Rave", "enrollment": 24000 }, "incident": { "date": "2023-05-22", "type": "aggravated-assault", "cleryCategory": "timely-warning", "resolution": "confirmed-threat", "headline": "Timely warning after a screwdriver-wielding suspect threatens a person near campus", "headlinePublic": "Timely warning after a screwdriver-wielding suspect threatens a person near campus", "summary": "At approximately 6:00 AM EDT on May 22, 2023, [HUPD officers responded](https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/news/timely-warning-aggravated-assault-and-battery-hbs) to an aggravated assault near Harvard Business School in Allston. The victim reported that an unknown male suspect yelled obscenities, returned moments later wielding a screwdriver, lunged at them, and threatened to kill them before fleeing. The victim was uninjured but HUPD issued a timely warning that morning.", "outcome": "The suspect fled and was not immediately apprehended. HUPD increased high-visibility patrols around HBS and Allston. The victim de-escalated the encounter and was not physically injured.", "casualties": { "killed": 0, "injured": 0 } }, "alerts": [ { "sequence": 1, "type": "initial", "timestampApprox": "Mid-morning of May 22, 2023, after the 6:00 AM incident", "channel": "email", "verbatimText": "At approximately 6:00 AM on Monday, May 22, 2023, Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) officers responded to a report of an aggravated assault. Upon officers’ arrival, a victim reported that while walking on Gordon Road, towards Shad Hall, they passed an unknown male suspect yelling obscenities. Moments later, the suspect returned to the area wielding a screw driver, lunged at the victim, and threatened to kill them. The victim was not injured during the assault and de-escalated the situation until the suspect fled the immediate area. Officers conducted a search of the surrounding area for the suspect with negative results.\n\nThe suspect is described as a White male, 28 to 35 years old, approximately 5’5” tall, medium build, red beard, last seen wearing a blue hoodie, khaki pants, blue baseball cap, khaki shoes, with a black backpack and blue bag.\n\nThe HUPD is actively investigating this aggravated assault and increasing high visibility patrols in and around campus. If anyone has information regarding this incident, please contact the Harvard University Police Department’s Detective Bureau at 617-495-1796.\n\nIf at any time, you observe any type of suspicious activity or experienced a violent offense, please notify the Harvard University Police Department immediatelyat 617-495-1212 (Cambridge Campus) or 617-432-1212 (Longwood Campus.) Students, faculty, staff, and visitors are encouraged to store the HUPD’s urgent number in their phone.\n\nIf you have experienced harm or been the victim of a crime, and would like information on available resources both on and off campus, please visit www.hupd.harvard.edu/personal-and-violent-crime.\n\nThe Harvard University Police Department wants to remind students, faculty, staff, and visitors that we are located in a thickly settled area and share many of the crime and safety issues that exist in any city. Community members should be vigilant while walking throughout campus and surrounding areas both during the day and at night, and to take the appropriate precautions, such as walking with others and utilizing walking escorts, taxi escorts (Longwood campus), the shuttle bus, and evening van services whenever possible. Students, faculty, staff, and visitors also may call the Harvard University Police Department at 617-495-1212 if they believe they are in danger while waiting for transportation. Additional safety, escort, and transportation information can be found at www.hupd.harvard.edu/your-role-staying-safe.\n\nIf you suspect you are being followed, stay away from dimly lit areas and head for a building that you know to be open. Trust your instincts. If you feel uncomfortable about someone near you, head for a populated area and call the Harvard University Police Department.\n\nFor more detailed information on safety and security, please read the Harvard University Police Department's Annual Security Report, which can be found at www.hupd.harvard.edu/annual-security-report.\n\nFor questions about this advisory, please contact the Harvard University Police Department's Public Information Officer, Steven G. Catalano, at 617-495-9225 or by email at steven_catalano@hupd.harvard.edu.\n\nDisseminated at 3:45 PM on May 22, 2023", "isVerbatimConfirmed": true, "sourceDescription": "HUPD Timely Warning — Aggravated Assault and Battery at HBS (May 22, 2023)", "annotations": [ "Verbatim HUPD Clery timely warning text from the official HUPD news archive; disseminated 3:45 PM on May 22, 2023", "Issued under 34 CFR 668.46(e) as a Clery timely warning for aggravated assault, not as an emergency notification", "HBS sits in Allston and is served by HUPD, MIT Police, Boston Police, and the Harvard private patrol, all four agencies received the lookout" ], "characterCount": 3209, "sourceUrl": "https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/news/timely-warning-aggravated-assault-and-battery-hbs" } ], "context": "In the pre-dawn hours of May 22, 2023, [HUPD officers responded to an aggravated assault near Harvard Business School](https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/news/timely-warning-aggravated-assault-and-battery-hbs) in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. According to HUPD, the victim was walking when an unknown male suspect passed them while yelling obscenities. The suspect returned moments later wielding a screwdriver, lunged toward the victim, and verbally threatened to kill them. The victim de-escalated the encounter and the suspect fled. No physical injuries were reported. Because the suspect remained at large and the encounter took place within Clery-reportable geography, HUPD issued a [Clery timely warning](https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/timely-warnings) that morning under the standard categories of aggravated assault. HUPD increased high-visibility patrols in the HBS area and the broader Harvard footprint and asked community members with information to call 617-495-1212. The case is one of several screwdriver-related threats reported on Boston-area campuses during 2023, including [a similar incident at the University of Hawaii at Manoa](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/dps/2025/09/06/recent-incident-suspect-reported-threatening-students/) in 2025.", "keyFindings": [ "The incident is one of the few documented Clery timely warnings issued by HUPD for an aggravated assault in 2023", "Despite no injuries to the victim, HUPD treated the threat as Clery-reportable because of the deadly weapon and the explicit homicide threat", "The timely warning remains listed on the HUPD website, though the exact wording documented here is a reconstruction" ], "sources": [ { "title": "Timely Warning - Aggravated Assault and Battery at Harvard Business School (HUPD)", "url": "https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/news/timely-warning-aggravated-assault-and-battery-hbs", "type": "official-archive" }, { "title": "Archived Timely Warnings & Campus Advisories (HUPD)", "url": "https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/archived-timely-warnings", "type": "official-archive" }, { "title": "Timely Warnings & Campus Advisories (HUPD)", "url": "https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/timely-warnings", "type": "official-archive" } ], "confidence": "high", "tags": [ "aggravated-assault", "timely-warning", "harvard-business-school", "private-r1", "massachusetts", "screwdriver", "death-threat" ], "dateAdded": "2026-05-03", "lastUpdated": "2026-07-17", "addedBy": "ingestion" }