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(BOSTON) — Boston police and federal authorities are questioning whether an explosion ever took place on the Northeastern University campus Tuesday evening, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Police and school officials said Tuesday that a package had detonated at the university, resulting in a school staff member sustaining a minor hand injury.

Boston EMS had responded to reports of an explosion at the university, with the 45-year-old victim transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police and officials.

The Northeastern University staff member who allegedly sustained injuries in what authorities called a “package detonation” had opened a hard-backed, Pelican-type case, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

There’s no apparent damage to the case and investigators have found no evidence of an explosion occurring, the sources said. Instead, authorities are looking at whether the entire thing was a hoax.

The alleged package was sent to Holmes Hall on Leon Street, where police responded at 7:18 p.m., authorities said. Boston Police Superintendent Felipe Colon said there was a second similar package that was rendered safe by the bomb squad.

Law enforcement’s preliminary assessment is that the reported minor explosion on campus was not random, two sources briefed told ABC News.

Authorities also found what the sources described as an anonymous note railing against virtual reality, among other things.

There is no intelligence indicating a further threat, according to the FBI’s Boston office.

A manager at Northeastern’s virtual reality lab, the sources said, is apparently the 45-year-old male staff member who was hurt. The injuries are reportedly minor abrasions to both forearms.

In a statement to Boston ABC News station WCVB, Northeastern University said a package delivered to Holmes Hall “detonated when a staff member opened it.”

A second suspicious package was cleared and did not contain an explosive, according to the two sources. There have been a number of reports of suspicious packages that police have checked, and they’ve searched buildings and mail rooms at Northeastern and nearby colleges for similar-looking packages, the sources said.

Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said a number of campus buildings were evacuated. He urged citizens to come forward if they see something out of the ordinary.

“We’re trying to gather facts now,” Colon added.

“The building has been evacuated and a notification was sent to the Boston campus at 7:55 p.m. urging people to avoid the area. We will update members of the Northeastern community when more information is available,” the university added in its statement.

Police for Northeastern University urged people to avoid areas around the school’s Holmes Hall as they conduct an investigation into the incident.

Nearby colleges and universities in and around Boston were advised to be on watch for similar-looking Pelican-type cases.

Sources said the case appears to have contained no explosive material. Instead, it was believed to have had somehow been pressurized and, when opened, rapidly depressurized, causing the supposed detonation.

The Boston Police Department’s bomb squad, Boston EMS and the Boston Fire Department were all on the scene investigating the incident, officials said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting with the investigation, according to a spokesperson.

Northeastern is a private research university located in Boston.

ABC News’ Josh Margolin, Arielle Mitropoulos and Jack Date contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — A New York City mother police said is suspected of drowning her three children while in the throes of a postpartum breakdown is now facing homicide charges.

The mother, 30-year-old Erin Merdy, was charged with three counts of second-degree murder, according to the New York Police Department. For each victim, she is charged with murder, murder with depraved indifference to human life and murder of a victim under 11 years old, officials said.

The charges were filed even as Merdy is undergoing psychiatric evaluation at a hospital and came a day after New York City’s chief medical examiner determined her three children — a 7-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and a 3-month-old daughter — died from drowning and that the manner of death was homicide.

Worried relatives and police found Merdy soaking wet, barefoot and alone early Monday on the Coney Island boardwalk after she called family members and allegedly threatened to harm her children, according to police. One official briefed on the probe told ABC News that the mother was “nearly catatonic” when police attempted to speak with her and are probing whether postpartum depression played a role in the alleged triple slaying.

The children were discovered by police unresponsive at 4:42 a.m. Monday at the water’s edge of Coney Island beach, about 2 miles from where the mother was located, authorities said.

Police said the deaths of the children appeared to be premeditated and not something that occurred at the spur of a moment.

The horrific incident began unfolding around 1:40 a.m. Monday, when a relative called 911 and said she was concerned that the mother was going to harm the children.

Officers went to the mother’s apartment in Coney Island, knocked on the door but got no answer, officials said. While at the address, a man showed up and identified himself as the father of one of the children, who also expressed concern for the well-being of the children and told officers he believed the mother had taken them to the boardwalk, according to authorities.

The mother was not able to communicate with police when they detained her for questioning on the boardwalk, officials said.

Police have obtained surveillance video of Merdy walking the children calmly to the ocean in the middle of the night, police sources told ABC New York station WABC.

Kenneth Corey, chief of department for the New York Police Department, said at a news conference on Monday that the children were found unresponsive at the water’s edge near the boardwalk at W. 35th Street. Officers immediately performed life-saving measures on the children, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but they were all pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital.

The mother has no prior arrests or history of being emotionally disturbed, according to NYPD records. She has prior domestic incidents of harassment and aggravated harassment that did not result in charges, according to the records. Corey said investigators have found no indication of a prior history of abuse and neglect of the children.

The city Administration for Children’s Services declined to discuss Wednesday whether it should have been looking into Merdy before the children’s deaths, and if the family slipped through the cracks.

“Our top priority is protecting the safety and well-being of all children in New York City. We are investigating this tragedy with the NYPD,” an ACS spokesperson said.

While police said they are investigating whether postpartum depression played a role in the episode, Dr. Anna Yegiants, a resident physician and member of the ABC News Medical Unit, explained there is a difference between postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.

Yegiants said that while it is possible for someone with postpartum depression to harm their children, it is not common. She said postpartum psychosis, however, presents essentially a break with reality and causes delusional thinking that could lead to such violence.

Up to 1 in 7 women experience postpartum depression, according to the American Psychological Association, and symptoms can occur during pregnancy and last for days or even months after delivering a baby.

“Postpartum depression is not your fault — it is a real, but treatable, psychological disorder,” the APA says on its website. “If you are having thoughts of hurting yourself or your baby, take action now: Put the baby in a safe place, like a crib. Call a friend or family member for help if you need to.”

ABC News’ Mark Crudele and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(BALTIMORE) — The conviction of Adnan Syed should be vacated, prosecutors said in a new court filing Wednesday.

Syed was the subject of the popular podcast “Serial,” which profiles various murders around the country and shed light on the lack of DNA testing in his case.

At 17-years-old, he was convicted for the 1999 murder of 18-year-old Hae Min Lee and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years. Prosecutors on Wednesday said that conviction should be vacated due to the lack of DNA evidence that “calls into question the integrity of the conviction.”

The Baltimore County, Maryland, State’s Attorney said in her filing the “evidence against the Defendant was not overwhelming and was largely circumstantial.”

Syed’s lawyer Erica Suter agreed.

In her response motion filed on Wednesday, she said his conviction rests on the word of a cooperating then 19-year-old who was “incentivized” to cooperate.

“Our criminal legal system serve us when we can have confidence in outcomes,” Suter wrote. “Mr. Seyed’s conviction rests on the evolving narrative of an incentivized cooperating, nineteen-year-old co-defendant, propped up by inaccurate and misleading cell phone location data.”

In November 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Syed’s appeal for a new trial, upholding a Maryland appeals court’s decision that rejected claims his trial lawyer failed to interview an alibi witness, and therefore Syed’s constitutional right to effective legal representation was violated.

State’s Attorney Marylin Mosby said her office was set out to right the wrongs of previous convictions.

“For that reason, after a nearly year-long investigation reviewing the facts of this case, Syed deserves a new trial where he is adequately represented and the latest evidence can be presented. As stewards of the court, we are obligated to uphold confidence in the integrity of convictions and do our part to correct when this standard has been comprised,” she said. “We have spoken with the family of Ms. Hae Min Lee and fully understand that the person responsible for this heinous crime must be held accountable.”

In March, the office asked Baltimore City Police Chief Becky Feldman and the defense filed a Joint Petition for Post-Conviction DNA Testing of the victim’s clothing. Specifically, the motion requested the clothing tested for touch DNA, which was unavailable at the time of trial.

In 2018, the Baltimore City Police Lab tested various items for DNA through an agreement between the Office of the Attorney General and the defendant’s previous counsel. However, the items now being tested were not previously tested in 2018, with the exception of the victim’s fingernail clippings.

In 2018 the State’s Attorney’s office conducted a DNA test but noted that some items were not tested.

The new filing says the re-investigation of the case revealed evidence regarding the possible involvement of two alternative suspects other than Syed.

The two suspects may be involved individually or may be involved together, the filing said, noting these suspects were known persons at the time of the original investigation and were not properly ruled out nor disclosed to the defense. According to the trial file, the person said “He would make her [Ms. Lee] disappear. He would kill her.” The state said it cannot disclose names at this point.

The Serial podcast tweeted, “This is big news. For the first time, Baltimore prosecutors are saying they don’t have confidence in Adnan Syed’s conviction and are asking for his release.”

This is big news. For the first time, Baltimore prosecutors are saying they don’t have confidence in Adnan Syed’s conviction and are asking for his release.

This is big news. For the first time, Baltimore prosecutors are saying they don’t have confidence in Adnan Syed’s conviction and are asking for his release. https://t.co/5Z4VkWcunY

— Serial (@serial) September 14, 2022

Prosecutors don’t make a determination whether he is innocent, just that the conviction should be vacated based on the evidence and Syed should be granted a new trial.

The court filing says that Syed’s case might have incurred a violation of what is known as the Brady rule — stemming from the Supreme Court precedent-setting case Brady v. Maryland that requires a remedy if the defense is not given all of the information at trial it could potentially foil the case.

“The State avers that considering the totality of evidence now available, the information about an alternative suspect would have been helpful to the defense because it would have helped substantiate an alternative suspect defense that was consistent with the defense at trial.”

 

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(NEW YORK) — A New York City mother police said is suspected of drowning her three children while in the throes of a postpartum breakdown is now facing homicide charges.

The mother, 30-year-old Erin Merdy, was charged with three counts of second-degree murder, according to the New York Police Department. For each victim, she is charged with murder, murder with depraved indifference to human life and murder of a victim under 11 years old, officials said.

The charges were filed even as Merdy is undergoing psychiatric evaluation at a hospital and came a day after New York City’s chief medical examiner determined her three children — a 7-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and a 3-month-old daughter — died from drowning and that the manner of death was homicide.

Worried relatives and police found Merdy soaking wet, barefoot and alone early Monday on the Coney Island boardwalk after she called family members and allegedly threatened to harm her children, according to police. One official briefed on the probe told ABC News that the mother was “nearly catatonic” when police attempted to speak with her and are probing whether postpartum depression played a role in the alleged triple slaying.

The children were discovered by police unresponsive at 4:42 a.m. Monday at the water’s edge of Coney Island beach, about 2 miles from where the mother was located, authorities said.

Police said the deaths of the children appeared to be premeditated and not something that occurred at the spur of a moment.

The horrific incident began unfolding around 1:40 a.m. Monday, when a relative called 911 and said she was concerned that the mother was going to harm the children.

Officers went to the mother’s apartment in Coney Island, knocked on the door but got no answer, officials said. While at the address, a man showed up and identified himself as the father of one of the children, who also expressed concern for the well-being of the children and told officers he believed the mother had taken them to the boardwalk, according to authorities.

The mother was not able to communicate with police when they detained her for questioning on the boardwalk, officials said.

Police have obtained surveillance video of Merdy walking the children calmly to the ocean in the middle of the night, police sources told ABC New York station WABC.

Kenneth Corey, chief of department for the New York Police Department, said at a news conference on Monday that the children were found unresponsive at the water’s edge near the boardwalk at W. 35th Street. Officers immediately performed life-saving measures on the children, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but they were all pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital.

The mother has no prior arrests or history of being emotionally disturbed, according to NYPD records. She has prior domestic incidents of harassment and aggravated harassment that did not result in charges, according to the records. Corey said investigators have found no indication of a prior history of abuse and neglect of the children.

The city Administration for Children’s Services declined to discuss Wednesday whether it should have been looking into Merdy before the children’s deaths, and if the family slipped through the cracks.

“Our top priority is protecting the safety and well-being of all children in New York City. We are investigating this tragedy with the NYPD,” an ACS spokesperson said.

While police said they are investigating whether postpartum depression played a role in the episode, Dr. Anna Yegiants, a resident physician and member of the ABC News Medical Unit, explained there is a difference between postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.

Yegiants said that while it is possible for someone with postpartum depression to harm their children, it is not common. She said postpartum psychosis, however, presents essentially a break with reality and causes delusional thinking that could lead to such violence.

Up to 1 in 7 women experience postpartum depression, according to the American Psychological Association, and symptoms can occur during pregnancy and last for days or even months after delivering a baby.

“Postpartum depression is not your fault — it is a real, but treatable, psychological disorder,” the APA says on its website. “If you are having thoughts of hurting yourself or your baby, take action now: Put the baby in a safe place, like a crib. Call a friend or family member for help if you need to.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(BOSTON) — A package detonated at Northeastern University in Boston on Tuesday night, and a staff member sustained a minor hand injury, according to the school and police.

The package was sent to Holmes Hall on Leon Street, where police responded at 7:18 p.m., authorities said. Boston Police Superintendent Felipe Colon said there was a second similar package that was rendered safe by the bomb squad.

Law enforcement’s preliminary assessment is that the minor explosion on campus was not random, two sources briefed told ABC News.

Boston EMS had responded to the explosion at the university, with the 45-year-old victim transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police and officials.

The Northeastern University staff member who sustained injuries Tuesday evening in what authorities called a “package detonation” had opened a hard-backed pelican-type case, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Authorities also found what the sources described as an anonymous note railing against virtual reality, among other things.

A manager at Northeastern’s virtual reality lab, the sources said, is apparently the 45-year-old male staff member who was hurt. The injuries are reportedly minor abrasions to both forearms.

In a statement to Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV, Northeastern University said a package delivered to Holmes Hall “detonated when a staff member opened it.”

A second suspicious package was cleared and did not contain an explosive, according to the two sources. There have been a number of reports of suspicious packages that police have checked, and they’ve searched buildings and mail rooms at Northeastern and nearby colleges for similar-looking packages, the sources said.

Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said a number of campus buildings were evacuated. He urged citizens to come forward if they see something out of the ordinary.

“We’re trying to gather facts now,” Colon added.

Police arrived on the scene around 7:16 p.m. and evacuated the building, authorities told ABC News.

“The building has been evacuated and a notification was sent to the Boston campus at 7:55 p.m. urging people to avoid the area. We will update members of the Northeastern community when more information is available,” the university added in its statement.

Police for Northeastern University urged people to avoid areas around the school’s Holmes Hall as they conduct an investigation into the incident.

Nearby colleges and universities in and around Boston have been advised to be on watch for similar looking pelican cases.

Sources said the case appears to have contained no explosive material. Instead it had somehow been pressurized and, when opened, rapidly depressurized, causing the detonation.

The Boston Police Department’s bomb squad, Boston EMS and the Boston Fire Department were all on the scene investigating the incident, officials said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting with the investigation, according to a spokesperson.

Northeastern is a private research university located in Boston.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Eight people were arrested Tuesday in connection with what federal authorities believe is a sprawling human smuggling operation that may have victimized thousands of migrants.

Erminia Serrano Piedra, also known as “Boss Lady,” allegedly ran the operation along with seven others, federal prosecutors told reporters. The eight were arrested in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas on charges related to transporting a non-citizen for monetary benefit while endangering human life.

The Department of Justice is also seeking $2.3 million in property assets allegedly connected with the operation.

“This organization was motivated by personal greed and Piedra and her co-conspirators prioritized that greed over the safety of those that they illegally smuggled,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite told reporters Tuesday.

Court documents did not list attorneys who could speak on the suspects’ behalf. They have not yet appeared in court.

Department of Justice officials say the migrant victims, believed to be citizens of Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico, were brought to so-called “stash houses” where smugglers conduct and conceal their illicit activity. Authorities say that some of the victims were forced into suitcases while others were crammed into the back of tractor trailers, pick-up trucks and even water tankers as part of their journeys into and across the U.S.

Those who drove the vehicles used to transport migrants were possibly paid as much as $2,500 per person, according to the Department of Justice.

“We have alleged that this particular organization was responsible for the smuggling of at least hundreds if not thousands of potential migrants,” Polite said.

Agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that handles smuggling enforcement, led the probe which resulted in the arrest of Katie Ann Garcia, one of the eight suspects, on Tuesday in Laredo, Texas, where authorities say 12 migrants were found, including two minors.

“If you commit the crime of human smuggling and if you manipulate and imperil and take advantage of struggling and fearful migrants — we are coming for you,” Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security John K. Tien said Tuesday. “We will investigate you. We will prosecute you to the fullest extent of our laws. We will leave no stone unturned until we end your nefarious practices.”

The Department of Homeland Security says it has ramped up its crackdown on transnational organizations that facilitate human smuggling — in recent months arresting nearly 5,000 people whom the department suspects of being associated with criminal trafficking.

The Biden administration also launched a “Joint Task Force Alpha” with DHS and DOJ as part of the government’s work to, as Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said Tuesday, “dismantle the most dangerous human smuggling and trafficking networks.”

“The charges announced today are just the latest example of these efforts’ success,” Garland said in a statement. “The Justice Department will continue to bring our full resources to bear to combat the human smuggling and trafficking groups that endanger our communities, abuse and exploit migrants, and threaten our national security.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Three young children who police found unresponsive early Monday on the beach at New York’s Coney Island all died by drowning, the city’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner said Tuesday.

The manner of each of their deaths was ruled a homicide, the office determined.

Police detained the children’s mother, who is suspected of drowning them, authorities said.

The medical examiner’s findings will advance the investigation and help determine whether the mother, who remains hospitalized for evaluation, should be charged, officials said.

The grim discovery came at 4:42 a.m., about 90 minutes after police launched a frantic search for the children, whose 30-year-old mother was found soaking wet, barefoot and uncommunicative on the Coney Island Boardwalk, police officials said during a news conference. One official briefed on the probe told ABC News that the mother was “nearly catatonic” when police attempted to speak with her Monday morning.

Detectives are looking into whether postpartum depression played a role in the triple slaying, the official said.

Kenneth Corey, chief of department for the New York Police Department, said officers immediately performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the children, who were taken to Coney Island Hospital, where they were all pronounced dead. While autopsies will be conducted to determine the cause of death, police suspect the children died from drowning, officials said.

Corey described the children as a 7-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and a 3-month-old boy. Their names were not immediately released.

Corey said the incident unfolded around 1:40 a.m., when a relative called 911 and said she was concerned that the mother was going to harm the children.

“I believe she (the mother) had called them and made statements to that effect,” Corey said.

Officers went to the mother’s apartment in Coney Island, knocked on the door but got no answer, Corey said. While at the address, a man showed up and identified himself as the father of one of the children, who also expressed concern for the well-being of the children and told officers he believed the mother had taken them to the boardwalk.

Corey said police immediately launched a search of the mother’s apartment, which was unlocked, the boardwalk, the surrounding neighborhood and the beach. They found the mother on the boardwalk with other relatives, but her children were nowhere in sight.

“She was soaking wet, she was barefoot and she was not communicative to the officers,” Corey said.

He said the search for the children intensified with NYPD helicopters and boats being deployed.

Corey said the children were found unresponsive at the water’s edge near the boardwalk at W. 35th Street.

He said the mother was found about two miles from where police discovered her children.

Police said the deaths of the children appear to be premeditated and not something that occurred at the spur of a moment. Detectives are looking into the mother’s past and interviewing neighbors and relatives, officials said.

The mother has no prior arrests or history of being emotionally disturbed, according to NYPD records. She has prior domestic incidents of harassment and aggravated harassment that did not result in charges, according to the records.

“Best we can tell at this point, and again it’s preliminary, there is no indication of a prior history of abuse and neglect of these children,” Corey said.

Corey said the mother, whose name was not released, was detained for questioning, but has not been charged.

While police said they are investigating whether postpartum depression played a role in the episode, Dr. Anna Yegiants, a resident physician and member of the ABC News Medical Unit, explained there is a difference between postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.

Yegiants said that while it is possible for someone with postpartum depression to harm their children, it is not common. She said postpartum psychosis, however, presents essentially a break with reality and causes delusional thinking that could lead to such violence.

Up to 1 in 7 women experience postpartum depression, according to the American Psychological Association, and symptoms can occur during pregnancy and last for days or even months after delivering a baby.

“Postpartum depression is not your fault — it is a real, but treatable, psychological disorder,” the APA says on its website. “If you are having thoughts of hurting yourself or your baby, take action now: Put the baby in a safe place, like a crib. Call a friend or family member for help if you need to.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Homeschooling, once a relatively niche form of education that has been growing steadily in the past decades, has seen a big uptick due to the COVID-19 pandemic with Black families adopting the practice at a notably high rate.

During the pandemic, the rates of families that home-schooled their children doubled, according to the most recent report released by the U.S. Census. In Black or African American households, the change was especially dramatic, going from 3% in the spring of 2020 to 16% by the fall.

Joyce Burges, co-founder of the National Black Home Educators association, based near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told ABC News the group had been seeing a “gradual increase in the number of Black families” homeschooling, but “with the pandemic it rose so incredibly.”

The reasons are multiple, she said, ranging from parents wanting to teach a more diverse curriculum to being able to better address the special needs of their children.

The numbers are just going to continue to increase, she said, adding that “education is not just brick and mortar, it will never go back to that again.”

Jania Otey told ABC News that there are myriad reasons why she home-schools her children, but ultimately she wants the children to “excel and progress.”

“We wanted them to be able to grasp a concept quickly or a subject matter,” she said. “We wanted to be able to move them on and build upon those things and not stay into one subject.”

For Otey, another rationale behind the decision to home-school Caleb and another son was “to provide a safe, engaging, healthy environment for our children.”

Although reports from the National Center for Education Statistics show the practice of home-schooling has been historically very white, the demographic shift is unsurprising for experts such as Cheryl Fields-Smith, professor of elementary education at the University of Georgia.

“Teachers are told what to teach, when to teach it, how to teach it, and that doesn’t always align with the students in the classroom,” Fields-Smith told ABC News.

The trends had already been set in place, but “the pandemic made it rise much more quickly.”

When she was first beginning her research, Fields-Smith said she was surprised to see Black families homeschooling, because she thought it was a predominantly white phenomenon.

“I was just blown away,” she said, learning about how Black families were adapting to make home-schooling work for them.

Similarly, Joyce Burges felt herself in the minority as a Black mother making the decision to home-school her children. She remembers vividly the joy at seeing another Black family at a home-schooling conference for the first time, more than 20 years ago.

Now, she can point to examples such as the parents of Venus and Serena Williams, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith as Black celebrities who have home-schooled their children.

Families can find resources and teaching lessons on “every subject,” she said, and she hopes to restart their conference series soon, through which Black families can hear about other parents’ experiences homeschooling.

Burges, who homeschooled her five children, said that it was ultimately “​​one of the hardest decisions we’ve ever had to make. But it was one of the best.”

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(BOSTON) — A package detonated at Northeastern University in Boston on Tuesday night, injuring a staff member, according to the school.

Boston EMS responded to an explosion at the university with one person transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police and officials.

In a statement to Boston ABC affiliate WCVB, Northeastern University said a package delivered to Holmes Hall “detonated when a staff member opened it. The staff member sustained minor injuries and is being treated.”

Police arrived on the scene shortly around 7:16 p.m. and evacuated the building, authorities told ABC News.

“The building has been evacuated and a notification was sent to the Boston campus at 7:55 p.m. urging people to avoid the area. We will update members of the Northeastern community when more information is available,” the university added.

Police for Northeastern University have urged people to avoid areas around the school’s Holmes Hall as they conduct an investigation into the incident.

Police kill man after he allegedly killed wife, shot daughter

The Boston Police Department’s bomb squad, Boston EMS and the Boston Fire Department are all on the scene investigating the incident, officials said.

Northeastern is a private research university located in Boston.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(SEATTLE) — Washington state’s largest school district has reached a “tentative agreement” with its educators union, as school closures stretch into nearly a week.

Seattle Public Schools announced late Monday that it had come to a tentative agreement on the educators’ contract with the Seattle Education Association.

“For now, the details of the tentative agreement are confidential,” the school district said in an update to families.

Union members will review the proposed contract and vote on whether to lift the strike on Tuesday, school officials said. The school district said it also plans to update families on the start of school by Tuesday afternoon.

The school year was supposed to start on Sept. 7, though classes for some 50,000 students in the district have not been held since then after the Seattle Education Association overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike the day before. Of the 75% of members who voted, 95% voted in favor of a strike.

The union had previously rejected a proposal from the school district to start the school year on time without a contract, which expired last month, amid the negotiations.

Among the sticking points for the union — which represents some 6,000 certificated teachers, substitutes, paraprofessionals and office professionals — are more special education teachers and greater mental health and behavioral resources. The union was seeking to improve staffing ratios in special education, while the district said it was focusing on student needs “rather than fixed staff ratios” to improve service and inclusion.

The union was also pushing for higher set pay raises, in particular for its lower-paid members, including front office staff and instructional assistants.

The union said late Monday that it was “excited” to have reached a tentative agreement.

“We stuck together, made our strength and unity known, and our action worked,” the Seattle Education Association said in a statement. “Our solidarity on the picket lines and the enormous community support we received made all the difference.”

“We should all be proud of what we accomplished and what we stood up for: student supports and respect for educators,” the statement continued.

The union said the tentative agreement is for a three-year contract, with special education ratios “maintained and improved in areas.” The contract also adds “baseline mental health staffing in all schools” and yearly raises above the implicit price deflator — akin to cost of living increases — according to the union.

The school district called the agreement an “incredible effort” by the bargaining teams for both sides.

“We want to thank everyone on both teams who worked hard to come to a resolution,” it said.

The school district is the latest to see teacher strikes during the pandemic, which has exacerbated an existing teacher crisis over working conditions and pay.

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