Yale Hit

Explosion Hits Yale University Law School
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By DIANE SCARPONI, Associated Press Writer

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - An explosion in a mail room damaged part of the Yale University law school Wednesday. No injuries were reported, but the cause of the blast wasn't immediately known.


AP Photo



Smoke rose from downtown and witnesses said the blast sent debris flying at about 5 p.m. City and police officials said the explosion apparently happened in a mail room.


"I saw a huge fireball come out to the middle of the hallway," said law student Bob Hoo, who was in a hallway on the ground floor of the law school. "It was there and then it was gone."


Hoo said he did not see anything catch fire or anyone injured before he fled. Law student Alexandra Alperovich, who was sitting in the student lounge, said she saw a wall to the alumni lounge collapse after the blast, but wasn't sure whether anyone was inside.


"Everything started falling and I just ran out right away," she said.


The FBI (news - web sites) sent members of the agency's terrorism task force were sent to the scene.


The incident came as the nation was on elevated alert for possible terrorist attacks and several hours after President Bush (news - web sites) — a Yale alumnus — visited the state to speak at the Coast Guard Academy graduation ceremony in New London.


A Yale professor, David J. Gelernter, was seriously injured in 1993 when a Unabomber mail bomb exploded in his campus office. His right hand, arm, ear, lungs and other internal organs were injured.


Theodore Kaczynski was sentenced in 1998 for that attack and others that killed three people and injured 23 from 1978 to 1995.

Accroding to CNN.com, the bomb was in an empty classroom, "not the mail room" (their words). It is not believed to be a terrorist attack, and no injuries or deaths have been reported. See http://www.cnn.com for the breaking news.