Bloody Incident Mystifies Quincy

An unidentified assailant pushed a student through a Quincy House first-story glass window early Wednesday morning, sending the victim to the hospital.

The suspect fled the area and remains at large, according to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) public log. It is unclear whether the assailant is a Harvard affiliate.

HUPD spokesman Steven G. Catalano declined to release the name or the condition of the victim.

The incident occurred outside New Quincy around 1:45 a.m at the set of glass doors closest to the intersection of DeWolfe and Mill Streets.

According to the log, a cab driver called HUPD after the suspect ran from the cab without paying. The cab driver reported that he soon afterward observed the suspect push an individual through a window and then climb through the window and flee the scene.

“We really don’t know what happened,” said Quincy House’s Allston Burr resident dean, Judith Flynn Chapman. “What I will say is that a student was injured—we don’t really know how—HUPD and the Cambridge Fire Department were all on the scene, the student was treated and taken to the hospital.”

Catalano acknowledged in an e-mailed statement that there was an incident in Quincy House, but said that there is no continuing public safety threat and that an investigation is underway.

Patrick Baur ’07, who lives on the second floor of New Quincy, said he was getting ready to go to bed when he heard a commotion in the stairwell.

“It was incredibly loud,” he said. “It was like you took one of the Lowell House chandeliers and popped it down the stairwell.”

Baur said he heard unintelligible yelling and swearing and went down to investigate after the tumult had quieted down.

Once in the stairwell, Baur said he could see broken glass all around, but did not see the people involved in the altercation.

“The entire lower half of the window was broken, and there were shards of glass everywhere,” he said. “It was really weird—there were pools of blood on the stairs and a pool of blood in the elevator.”

Baur said he also found a cell phone and broken ID card. The police arrived a few minutes later and, according to the HUPD log, found the identification card and located the individual who had been pushed through the window.

The victim was then rushed by ambulance to a medical facility, according to the police log. Catalano did not release any information on the victim’s identity or health status.

Megan E. Carey ’08, a Quincy House Committee co-chair, said she was walking toward the back entrance of Quincy around 2:30 a.m. when she stumbled upon the scene.

“I walked up to the doors to swipe in, and all of the windows were smashed in,” she said. “I swiped in and found that the elevator was on the ground floor, and there seemed to be blood and broken glass in the elevator and right next to the door.”

Baur said he was surprised that he had not heard any more about the incident.

“I was waiting for the gossip mill, but there’s been no e-mail or anything,” he said.

—Staff writer Jamison A. Hill can be reached at jahill@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Anna L. Tong can be reached at tong@fas.harvard.edu.