MIT officer dies after campus shooting

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer died after a shooting on campus, Cambridge Police said Thursday night.

The officer was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. There was a heavy police presence at the hospital.

There were no other shooting victims reported and there have been no arrests, the Middlesex district attorney’s office said in a statement.

Multiple federal and local law enforcement agencies swarmed the campus area, including SWAT teams and a bomb squad.

The shots were reported near the campus’ Ray and Maria Stata Center, also known as Building 32, at 10:48 p.m., MIT said in an alert.

Vassar Street was cordoned off, and helicopters were overhead. Heavily armed police could be seen checking cars with a police dog.

Dennis Walsh, 31, a construction worker from Dedham, was headed toward MIT to meet friends for dinner Thursday night when he saw police cars streaming by.

He and his wife, Sarah Burk, 27, lingered at the police tape looking for answers, their dinner almost forgotten. They didn’t think their friends would mind.

“I don’t think they want to come out now,” Burk said.

Omar Hersi, 19, who works nearby, said it was odd to see so much crime and police response in Boston and Cambridge in one week.

“I just think its kind of strange,” he said. “I’m just surprised it would happen here of all places.”

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