{
  "id": "2016-03-30-quinsigamond-community-college-threats",
  "slug": "quinsigamond-community-college-threats-2016-03-30",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Quinsigamond Community College",
    "shortName": "QCC",
    "state": "MA",
    "type": "community-college",
    "alertSystemName": "QCC Alert",
    "enrollment": 13000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2016-03-30",
    "endDate": "2016-03-31",
    "type": "threat-of-violence",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "headline": "Bomb threat and shooter threat close the campus on consecutive days",
    "headlinePublic": "Bomb threat and shooter threat close the campus on consecutive days",
    "summary": "Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, Massachusetts, evacuated and closed its main campus on back-to-back days in late March 2016. [Boston.com reported](https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2016/03/31/quinsigamond-community-college-evacuated) the college was emptied on Wednesday, March 30, 2016, after a bomb threat, then told students to leave again on Thursday, March 31, 2016, over a 'shooter threat.' [Boston 25 News](https://www.boston25news.com/news/quinsigamond-community-college-students-staff-told-to-evacuate/189690120/) reported both threats targeted the main campus.",
    "outcome": "Both threats prompted evacuations and closures of the main campus on consecutive days. No device or shooter was found in either incident.",
    "resolution": "unfounded"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Wednesday afternoon, March 30, 2016",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "Please leave the Boylston St main campus in an orderly fashion at this time. We have received a bomb threat and we are closing the college.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://patch.com/massachusetts/worcester/quinsigamond-community-college-bomb-threat-closes-school-0",
      "sourceDescription": "Worcester Patch, quoting the QCC text message alert sent to students on March 30, 2016",
      "annotations": [
        "Quoted verbatim from the QCC text message alert sent to students on the afternoon of March 30, 2016, as reported by Worcester Patch.",
        "This first alert framed the threat as a bomb threat, prompting an orderly evacuation rather than shelter-in-place.",
        "The Wednesday closure was the first of two consecutive days of threats against the same campus."
      ],
      "characterCount": 139
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "follow-up",
      "timestampApprox": "Thursday, March 31, 2016",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "Due to a shooter threat on the main campus, WB Street, all day classes at all QCC locations are cancelled.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://patch.com/massachusetts/worcester/quinsigamond-community-college-closed-0",
      "sourceDescription": "Worcester Patch, quoting the QCC alert sent at approximately 10:15 a.m. on March 31, 2016",
      "annotations": [
        "Quoted verbatim from the QCC alert sent at approximately 10:15 a.m. EDT on March 31, 2016, as reported by Worcester Patch and Boston 25 News.",
        "This second-day alert came roughly a day after the bomb threat and characterized the incident as a shooter threat, extending the cancellation to all QCC satellite locations.",
        "Boston.com and WHDH characterized the Thursday incident as a 'shooter threat,' distinct from Wednesday's bomb threat."
      ],
      "characterCount": 106
    }
  ],
  "context": "Quinsigamond Community College serves the Worcester, Massachusetts, area and uses the QCC Alert emergency-notification system. In late March 2016, the college faced two threats on consecutive days. [Boston.com reported](https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2016/03/31/quinsigamond-community-college-evacuated) that the main campus was evacuated and closed on Wednesday, March 30, 2016, after a bomb threat, and that students were again told to leave on Thursday, March 31, 2016, this time over a 'shooter threat.' [Boston 25 News](https://www.boston25news.com/news/quinsigamond-community-college-students-staff-told-to-evacuate/189690120/) and [WHDH](https://whdh.com/news/quinsigamond-community-college-evacuated-for-shooter-threat/) both reported the evacuations. Neither threat produced a device or an armed person, and the campus reopened after the searches. The back-to-back pattern illustrates how a community college can be forced to evacuate repeatedly when an unknown actor sends successive threats.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "Two different threat types (a bomb threat then a shooter threat) forced consecutive-day evacuations of the same campus",
    "Both incidents ordered full evacuation rather than shelter-in-place, treating the campus itself as the target",
    "Neither threat produced a device or an armed person; both resolved as unfounded, and both alert texts are quoted verbatim in Worcester Patch coverage"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "'Shooter threat' closes Quinsigamond Community College - Boston.com",
      "url": "https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2016/03/31/quinsigamond-community-college-evacuated",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Quinsigamond Community College closed due to shooter threat - Boston 25 News",
      "url": "https://www.boston25news.com/news/quinsigamond-community-college-students-staff-told-to-evacuate/189690120/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Quinsigamond Community College evacuated for 'shooter threat' - WHDH",
      "url": "https://whdh.com/news/quinsigamond-community-college-evacuated-for-shooter-threat/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "UPDATE: Quinsigamond Community College Bomb Threat Closes School - Worcester Patch",
      "url": "https://patch.com/massachusetts/worcester/quinsigamond-community-college-bomb-threat-closes-school-0",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Shooter Threat at Quinsigamond Community College Evacuates Locations - Worcester Patch",
      "url": "https://patch.com/massachusetts/worcester/quinsigamond-community-college-closed-0",
      "type": "local-media"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "threat-of-violence",
    "bomb-threat",
    "evacuation",
    "emergency-notification",
    "massachusetts",
    "community-college",
    "unfounded"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-28",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-05-28",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}