<p>Not a good week for Harvard Safety - last night at approximately 11:45 pm, a Harvard undergrad reported being the victim of an armed robbery on Plympton Street. Perhaps, in light of these incidents, the administration will rethink their decision to eliminate the night-time shuttles - to both the quad and river houses!</p>
<p>reflectivmom, this is exactly what my husband was stating last night. Apparently the police do not know why the incident occurred so to wait 45 min to notify students is far too long to wait. Yes, Virginia Tech was the first thought on my mind. </p>
<p>Has anyone contacted the school to let them know this? I will send an e-mail off today. If others will do the same this may prompt Harvard to re-visit the emergency system they have in place.</p>
<p>I am also sending an e-mail - especially in light of this new incident and dangerously long lag time!!! They really need more timely emergency notification!</p>
<p>We now have 3 threads on the shooting yesterday. For there to be better communication between the parents and students let’s all keep it to one Thread. The parents thread has good information on it.</p>
<p>Thanks reflectivmom! it’s greatly appreciated. We need to be proactive and speak up</p>
<p>Please post any info on the shooting onto the “parents thread”</p>
<p>Students and others might not wade through the many topics of the parents’ thread- this thread is titled correctly and has links to the newspapers.</p>
<p>I just sent an e-mail to the school. If anyone has the time and would like to also it would be appreciated. Reflectivemom is also sending an e-mail.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance</p>
<p>I don’t know that 45 minutes in this situation was unreasonable. Of course I’d like the notification to be instantaneous, but this was an event in which none of the participants was apparently a Harvard student, so Harvard onlookers had to contact HUPD and tell them what they thought had happened. Some of the witnesses interviewed had not identified the sounds they’d heard as gunfire. The victim apparently moved away from the spot in which he was standing when he was shot to another location down the street where he collapsed. A poster on this thread noted that there was a commotion outside Finale and wondered if it was related - the officers responding would have had the same question. They probably had to investigate a confusing scene to determine what had happened and where, then communicate it to the authority who makes the call about activating the messaging system. If officers arrived to find a crime in progress it would be a simple matter to radio in the status of what they’d found, but it appears as if they may have had to assemble pieces of a puzzle before knowing exactly what to report.</p>
<p>Actually, I’m less concerned about the time-lag in notifying parents–what, after all, can we do, than the fact that the victim, who was not a Harvard student, was shot in the basement of Kirkland House. How the heck did he and his shooters get in there? If they could get in, others could, too, and from there, get to other floors. This seems to me a serious breach of security.</p>
<p>I asked my D (who will be in Kirkland next year) how this breach of security occurred. She replied that with everyone moving stuff in and out, many doors are propped open.</p>
<p>Does anyone know for sure if this occurred inside or outside or Kirkland? I have seen it reported both ways (more often it has been reported as outside). I figure the those who would be most informed of the location are Kirkland residents. Any answer?</p>
<p>Most colleges outfit their residence hall entries with security measures, but anyone who’s not overtly threatening-looking has no problem gaining access. You just walk a few steps behind a student who’s swipe-carding in, and 90% of the time they’ll hold the door for you rather than close it in your face (the students call it “tailgating”). If you’re a student and you happen to have another student in front of you, you’ll frequently catch the door before it closes rather than fumbling through your purse or wallet for your own card. A 21-year-old rushing to catch a closing door before it latches would draw no one’s attention in the least. And then, if people are propping open doors while they move in or out, the security of the building is entirely breached. College administrators routinely lecture students about undermining their own security measures, but when you realize that the alternative from a student’s point of view is having to apologize to the individual right behind you and explain why you’re about to slam a door in their face, you see that it’s not a battle you’ll ever completely win.</p>
<p>Everyone is answering the question about how the person/people got in but No one is answering if indeed the shooting actually happened inside.</p>
<p>Well, there was an armed robbery last night as well.</p>
<p>Armed Robbery</p>
<p>Plympton Street Cambridge</p>
<p>On Monday, May 18, 2009, a male undergraduate student reported to the
Harvard University Police Department that he was the victim of an armed
robbery at approximately 11:45 PM. The victim stated that while walking
on Plympton Street (which runs between Massachusetts Avenue and Mt. Auburn
Street), an unknown male with a bandana covering his face approached him,
displayed a knife, and demanded his property. The victim handed over
his money and an iPod. The suspect then fled the area. The victim was
not injured in the robbery.</p>
<p>The victim was unable to provide a detailed description of the suspect.</p>
<p>I’m not concerned about the parents being notified, but the students should be notified much sooner than 45 minutes to avoid a Virginia Tech situation considering the first text that went out was not complete and did not give details as to what the next steps to take would be. Ask your students. I’m not sure if the system went down or if the communication simply didnt’ process completely. USC in California has an outstanding process in place. Very detailed and efficient. </p>
<p>I have heard 2 conflicting situations. 1. the shooting occurred IN Kirkland basement and 2. The shooting occurred on the steps of the entry way of Kirkland. Is the armed robbery related to the earlier shooting? </p>
<p>Yes, I can see how with all the moving going on now that students would prop a door open.</p>
<p>S said the shooting happened in the basement, though he is not a Kirkland resident.</p>
<p>I am not at all concerned about parents being notified. </p>
<p>I am very concerned about more timely notification via text messages for students. A fifty minute notification lag with a gunman on or near the Harvard campus, who had already shot a victim on Harvard property, is unacceptable. </p>
<p>Also, last night’s armed robbery was reported at 11:45 pm, according to the Harvard Police, yet students were not notified until 11:45 am today. I hope they learn from these incidents and update their emergency alert system.</p>
<p>Talking my D today, she said that word has it the victim was from Salem State College and the shooting took place in the basement. By the way, there isn’t anything that says that Harvard students were not the perpetrators.</p>
<p>A 21-year-old Cambridge man died today after being shot on Monday inside an entrance of a Harvard University residence hall, and his mother said she has no idea why he would have been targeted in violence that jolted the quiet campus.</p>
<p>Justin Cosby died early this morning at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center after being shot once in the abdomen, according to his mother, Denise Cosby. In an interview today at her Cambridge home, Denise Cosby said that she last saw her son Monday afternoon with his longtime girlfriend. He left and said he’d be back soon, but it wasn’t until 8 p.m. that the mother learned that her son had been shot. </p>
<p>“It’s just so strange. He was fine, healthy yesterday,” Cosby said. “I just can’t believe my son is not here today. Inside I’m just torn up, I feel like someone has murdered me.”</p>
<p>Middlesex District Attorney Gerald T. Leone Jr. said today that investigators want to speak to everyone near Kirkland House residence hall at the time of the shooting. Authorities are optimistic that they will be able to gather the evidence to capture the people responsible for the killing. </p>
<p>“We feel extremely bad for Justin’s family,” Leone said at a press conference at Cambridge police headquarters. </p>
<p>Leone said authorities do not believe Harvard students were involved in the shooting.</p>
<p>Denise Cosby said she had no idea why her son, a 2005 graduate of Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School who attended Salem State College until recently, was at Harvard on Monday afternoon or why someone would target him.</p>
<p>“This is the worst day of my life,” said Cosby, who has a daughter who is coming in from Atlanta to be with the family. </p>
<p>Neighbors described Cosby as a tall, smiling helpful presence in their neighborhood and they were shocked that he had been murdered.</p>
<p>"I just can’t believe that anyone would find it in their heart… to intentionally try to hurt him,‘’ said Isabelle Jackson. “He was just an angel.” </p>
<p>Police were still searching for several suspects in the shooting, which shattered the calm of campus as students studied for finals. </p>
<p>Officials have not released details about the shooting. The residence halls are locked, and a key card is normally required for entry.</p>
<p>Harvard President Drew Faust did not respond to requests today for comment regarding dorm security. John Longbrake, her spokesman, told the Globe in a written statement: “We take issues of security extremely seriously. Harvard is an urban campus and we are constantly reviewing and assessing our security measures.”</p>
<p>After authorities were alerted about the shooting at 4:50 p.m. Monday, they found the victim on Dunster Street, where he had made his way, outside Kirkland, one of Harvard’s 12 undergraduate houses. </p>
<p>Cosby withdrew from Salem State in April after having accumulated enough credits for sophomore standing, according to Salem State spokeswoman Karen Cady.</p>
<p>He lived in a residence hall on campus his first two years, but was not taking a full academic load. This school year he commuted from Cambridge, she said.</p>
<p>“He was clearly well liked. He had a lot of friends here,” Cady said.</p>
<p>Cosby played intramural basketball and participated in social events run by the college’s multicultural student association and the Hispanic student association, she said. </p>
<p>“From what I understand he was very close to his family,” Cady said. “At one point his mom had injured her leg and he was going home daily to check on her.”</p>