Person Found Dead in Allston Apartment After Hours-Long Barricade

Updated December 13, 2024, at 2:43 p.m.

BOSTON — Boston Police Department officers discovered a man dead in the Allston Continuum apartment complex early Thursday morning after a nearly 12-hour long standoff between the man and law enforcement officers.

Police officers responded to the apartment complex around 4 p.m. on Wednesday to place the individual under arrest for a previous incident, but the man barricaded himself inside a residential unit, prompting law enforcement officers to evacuate the area around the building and call a SWAT team to the scene.

The negotiations with the individual, who was located on the sixth floor of the complex’s South Tower, lasted for nearly 12 hours amid windy and rainy conditions. Around 3 a.m on Thursday, the Boston Fire Department and the SWAT team found the individual dead behind the barricade.

The Continuum complex is a mixed-use luxury apartment building with over 300 residential units. The development, which houses many Harvard affiliates, is a short walking distance from Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex and the Harvard Business School.

The complex opened in 2015 after Harvard leased the land for the project to developer Samuels & Associates. The University does not operate the building.

A Harvard spokesperson declined to comment on the incident.

As of Thursday morning, the area around the Continuum was clear, with no evidence of the incident visible.

Continuum resident and HBS student L. Taylor Walden said that a police officer knocked on her door around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday and told her to “evacuate immediately.”

Walden and other residents waited in the lobby of the complex before they were asked to leave the building entirely. Some residents sheltered in the gas station across the street or on MBTA buses that were brought in to hold the evacuees until around 11 p.m, when Continuum apartments informed residents that they would be provided hotels for the night.

By early Thursday morning, most residents were informed via email that they could return to their apartments, except for those who live on the sixth floor in order to protect the privacy of the individual, according to Walden.

Walden called the incident “shocking and such a terrible situation.”

“You never expect anything like this to happen in your apartment building, especially in a place so close to HBS and Harvard just generally, a lot of the people in this building are also students,” she added.

Walden, who returned to the apartment this morning, said that the atmosphere has felt “somber” since the incident.

“Everyone’s in shock and just sad by the outcome,” she said. “I think we were all hoping that it would be a different outcome.”

Residents of the North Tower were not required to evacuate but officers instructed some to turn off their lights, according to a North Tower resident.

Kenta A. Nomoto, another HBS student living in the South Tower, said he stayed at the Studio Allston hotel — a 10-minute walk down the street — for the night after the building manager secured a free night for affected residents.

“The registrar was able to postpone exams for people living here,” Nomoto said.

Harvard Business School spokesperson Mark Cautela confirmed in a statement that the school allowed MBA students who were affected by the standoff and death to reschedule exams that were originally slated for Thursday.

Samuels and Associates spokesperson Diana Pisciotta declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

Boston Police spokesperson John Boyle wrote in a statement that the Boston Neighborhood Trauma Team provides free, private support 24/7 for “those who find themselves in need of emotional support or simply needing to talk to someone about the distressing events in our community.”

— Staff writer Sally E. Edwards can be reached at sally.edwards@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sallyedwards04 or on Threads @sally_edwards06.

—Staff writer Asher J. Montgomery can be reached at asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @asherjmont or on Threads @asher_montgomery.

—Staff writer Jack R. Trapanick can be reached at jack.trapanick@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @jackrtrapanick.