An emergency situation on the campus of a Boston University on Friday morning was a hoax. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said a man called Boston University police at 8:30 a.m. saying he was barricaded in a “booby-trapped room” on the fourth floor of the Mugar Memorial Library. Evans said the man called back a few minutes later to say he was armed and that he had shot a hostage. The school sent an alert warning students to stay away from the library at 771 Commonwealth Ave as police searched the building. “It was a phone call, and we were on the line with the individual, so we treated it like it was the real deal,” Evans said. “It was so detailed that we had to take it serious.” BU spokesman Colin Riley said police evacuated the library and student union. "It was not a robocall. It was an actual person on the other end of the line answering questions," said Boston University Chief of Police Scott Pare, adding that the caller identification was blocked. The area was cleared after determining that the threat was a hoax. "Although an investigation is ongoing, we believe that the call came from an international location and was a hoax," BU President Robert Brown said in a letter to the campus. "The nature of the threat required that the buildings be immediately closed and searched by the police." "What we practiced last month in a drill -- actually in the same, exact building -- it worked, unfortunately, perfectly for us with Boston police, State Police and Brookline police all showing up," Pare said. Officials said the caller had an accent, and they are working to trace the hoax call.

An emergency situation on the campus of a Boston University on Friday morning was a hoax.

Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said a man called Boston University police at 8:30 a.m. saying he was barricaded in a “booby-trapped room” on the fourth floor of the Mugar Memorial Library.


Evans said the man called back a few minutes later to say he was armed and that he had shot a hostage.

The school sent an alert warning students to stay away from the library at 771 Commonwealth Ave as police searched the building.



“It was a phone call, and we were on the line with the individual, so we treated it like it was the real deal,” Evans said. “It was so detailed that we had to take it serious.”

BU spokesman Colin Riley said police evacuated the library and student union.

"It was not a robocall. It was an actual person on the other end of the line answering questions," said Boston University Chief of Police Scott Pare, adding that the caller identification was blocked.



The area was cleared after determining that the threat was a hoax.

"Although an investigation is ongoing, we believe that the call came from an international location and was a hoax," BU President Robert Brown said in a letter to the campus. "The nature of the threat required that the buildings be immediately closed and searched by the police."



"What we practiced last month in a drill -- actually in the same, exact building -- it worked, unfortunately, perfectly for us with Boston police, State Police and Brookline police all showing up," Pare said.

Officials said the caller had an accent, and they are working to trace the hoax call.