Heavy police activity in Watertown Massachusetts after explosions and gunfire was heard in the area. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports from the chaotic scene.
Police federal agents and even National Guardsmen descended on an area outside Boston where there were reports of violence gunshots and two loud booms Thursday night following the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer.
Two men had reportedly shot at police officers.
Andrew Kitzenberg of Watertown Mass. described a police standoff outside his house where two shooters and police engaged in gunfire for a several minutes. The gunmen used bombs that looked like grenades he said.
WNBC s Jonathan Dienst said FBI and local police were looking for a connection between the Boston Marathon bombs and the incidents in Watertown and MIT. He said that dozens and dozens of federal agents had been dispatched to the crime scenes.
A law enforcement source said one of the suspects had been shot.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
Police with guns drawn search for a suspect on April 19 2013 in Watertown Mass. Earlier a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer was shot and killed late Thursday night at the school's campus in Cambridge. A short time later police reported exchanging gunfire with alleged carjackers in Watertown a city near Cambridge. It's not clear whether the shootings are related or whether either are related to the Boston Marathon bombing.
The tense situation followed an hours long lockdown at MIT where a campus police officer was shot and killed while investigating a disturbance on the Cambridge campus.
As investigators sweeped the campus there were reports of violence and an extremely heavy police presence in Watertown which is only a few miles away.
The events began unfolding with reports of shots fired on the MIT campus at 10 48 p.m. ET and the situation remained active and extremely dangerous for hours according to MIT's emergency website.
The situation was still very fluid after midnight as police continued to sweep the campus.
Police were still looking for a suspect and no arrests had been made as of early Friday according to the Middlesex County District Attorney s office.
At around 2 a.m. MIT police said it had determined the shooting suspect was no longer on campus.
Massachusetts State Police were assisting Cambridge and MIT police in the investigation.
No arrest has been made and the search for a suspect or suspects is ongoing read a statement from the Massachusetts State Police.
The officer was responding to a report of a disturbance in the area of Vassar and Main streets police said when he was shot. According to authorities the officer sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead.
The university expressed its condolences in a statement MIT is heartbroken by the news that an MIT Police officer was shot and killed in the line of duty on Thursday night on campus near Building 32 (the Stata Center). Our thoughts are now with the family.
Cambridge is right across the Charles River from Boston but authorities cautioned that there didn t appear to be a link to the bombings earlier this week.
Dominick Reuter / EPA
Massachusetts State Police Cambridge Police and MIT Police search at the scene of the shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Police Officer in Cambridge Massachusetts April 18 2013.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more updates.
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