Police Detonate Abandoned Pressure Cooker in Kenmore Square
No explosive material found; investigation under way
The overpass near the intersection of Charlesgate East and Commonwealth Avenue drew police, who detonated an abandoned pressure cooker. Photo by Cydney Scott
Boston police detonated a pressure cooker left in Kenmore Square yesterday shortly after 12:30 p.m.
There were no explosives found in the cooker debris afterwards, says Peter Fiedler (COM’77), BU’s vice president for administrative services. Police rerouted cars and pedestrians away from the scene, on the east side of the intersection of Charlesgate East and Commonwealth Avenue. “It wasn’t near any BU buildings,” says Boston University Police Department Captain Robert Molloy. BUPD Sgt. Larry Manning says there were no other devices or packaging with the cooker.
Boston and state police bomb squads detonated the pressure cooker as a precaution. They are investigating who left the cooker and why.
“Obviously, that’s a huge question,” Fiedler says. “It’s a little unnerving in this particular city,” seven months after the Boston Marathon bombings killed three people, including BU student Lu Lingzi (GRS’13). The alleged bombers used pressure cookers to make their devices.
“If it’s someone’s idea of a practical joke, it’s a very bad one,” Fiedler says.
The Boston Herald reports that more than 15 Boston and state police cruisers and bomb squad technicians were at the scene along the Muddy River near Kenmore Square after the controlled detonation.
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