UPDATED: Apr 19, 2013 05:24 GMT

A university police officer has died after being shot on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge late Thursday, said state police spokesman Lt. Mark Riley.

The MIT officer was responding to a disturbance when he was shot, according to the state district attorney's office. He sustained "multiple gunshot wounds."

State police and the FBI were called in after the shooting and found the campus policeman near Building 32 on MIT's campus. He was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the district attorney's office said.

Dozens of officers surrounded and cordoned off the building, known as the Stata Center, which houses computer science laboratories as well as the department of linguistics and philosophy, according to MIT's website.

The university, which lies adjacent to the city of Boston, requested people stay away from the building as police considered the situation potentially dangerous.

Students and faculty received e-mails to alert them to the event, CNN affiliate WCVB reported.

Residents in the area have been on edge after two bombs ripped through the crowd near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring about 180 others. Police are seeking two suspects in the attack, and they are still at large.

There is no indication there is any connection between the officer's killing and the marathon tragedy.

Many news media outlets are in the area covering the investigation into Monday's bombings and arrived at MIT to cover the shooting, WCVB reported.

The Stata Center also contains a food court, WCVB said. It serves as a gathering area for students.
Source
www.cnn.com