Harvard Police Lift Shelter-in-Place Order, Say No Active Safety Risk After Shooting Near Radcliffe Quad

Updated October 24, 2025, at 5:59 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 first issued the order to shelter in place shortly after 11 a.m. Friday and lifted it less than an hour later after the Cambridge Police Department determined that there was no ongoing public safety risk.

Multiple shots were fired after two to three people were involved in an altercation on Sherman Street shortly before 11 a.m, but there were no known victims, CPD spokesperson Robert P. Reardon wrote in a Friday afternoon statement. One of the people involved may have been on a bike, Reardon wrote, and all fled the scene after the incident.

Police had not announced suspects in the case, as of the time of Reardon’s statement. They determined the incident was likely isolated and did not pose a continued risk to the public.

A person suspected of involvement in the shooting was seen shortly after the incident 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.

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.

The second alert, sent via the MessageMe text and email system roughly 10 minutes later, 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.

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.

Spokespeople for HUPD and the University did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

—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.