A Burstein Hall resident was allegedly robbed inside the residence hall around 1 a.m. Thursday morning by a person he signed into the building, Boston Police Department (BPD) officials said. The robbery occurred hours before a bomb squad responded to an unrelated suspicious package on St. Stephen Street.
BPD officers said the suspect in the Burstein Hall robbery, a white male who they said carried a firearm, stole the student's laptop and was chased by Northeastern University Division of Public Safety (NUPD) officers.
After receiving reports the suspect had fled to 550 Parker St., a Wentworth Institute of Technology administration building, a BPD SWAT team responded to the location at 1:13 a.m., BPD spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.
The team could not locate the man, but Driscoll said they “have some very good leads about his identity.”
An NU Alert was sent shortly before 4:30 p.m. Thursday to alert student of an alleged residence hall robbery, though it did not mention Burstein Hall by name.
In an apparently unrelated incident, a bomb squad responded to 23 St. Stephen St., a private building with some apartment units rented by Northeastern students, to investigate a small, suspicious package at 8:34 a.m. Thursday.
The package was a small, powder-filled plastic cylinder with a green hobby fuse, commonly used in model rockets and firecrackers, attached to the top, a BPD official said.
Police are investigating the cylinder's contents. The bomb squad cleared the area at 11:46 a.m., and no injuries were reported.
In a statement about the alleged Burstein robbery, Northeastern Director of Public Relations Renata Nyul said students should not sign strangers into residence halls.
"Northeastern is a safe campus," she said. "We encourage students to do their part by exercising caution and common sense. Students are responsible for their guests, and should not sign people they do not know into our community."
Because the investigation is ongoing, Nyul said she could not release any further information at this time.
The statement did not address the bomb squad response on St. Stephen Street.
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– News staff Mary Ann Georgantopoulos contributed to this report.
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