February 26

Feds join investigation into MIT gunman hoax

The Associated Press

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The FBI and U.S. Secret Service have confirmed that they are helping investigate a report of a gunman on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus last weekend that turned out to be a hoax.

click image to enlarge

Pedestrians walk by police tape on the MIT Campus in Cambridge, Mass.,after police responded to reports of a gunman on campus on Saturday.

AP

The director of the Secret Service's Boston field office said Monday the agency's electronic crimes task force is involved because the tip is Internet related.

An FBI spokesman tells The Boston Globe the agency's contribution could range from offering access to federal databases to "larger measures."

The federal agencies are helping campus and Cambridge police.

An electronic message sent to Cambridge police Saturday morning indicted that a man dressed in body armor and carrying a rifle was in a main building on campus.

The tip was determined to be a hoax about three hours later.

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