MSU police Detective Gus Fernandez arrives at Berkey Hall after firecrackers were set off in the stairwell between the first and second floors Tuesday afternoon. The exploded firecrackers were mistaken for gunshots.
Fireworks producing loud booms that echoed through Berkey Hall forced the evacuation of more than 100 students and faculty Tuesday afternoon.
The firecrackers were located by MSU police after those in the hall either rushed out of the building, climbed out of first floor windows or were escorted by police from classrooms.
The explosion originated in the central stairwell of the building between the first and second floors.
About 10 MSU and East Lansing police cars responded just before 4 p.m.
Police spent about 30 minutes clearing the building before letting students and professors return to class.
Kent Cassella, MSU’s director of media communications, confirmed that one student is being treated at Sparrow Hospital for minor injuries. He could not confirm how the injuries were sustained.
Cassella said MSU police are continuing to investigate the incident.
Education senior Nick Weibel was in Berkey Hall when the boom ripped through the building.
“We were in class on the first floor, and we heard loud popping noises, so everyone ran outside,” Weibel said. “Everyone on the first floor seemed to run out pretty quick, but there were a couple people who were straggling out.”
Professor Michael Rip was teaching a criminal justice class when he heard commotion.
“I saw students running down the hall, so I poked my head around my door, and I knew I smelled fireworks, but everybody started jumping out of the windows and running out of the classrooms,” Rip said.
Rip added that the sound the explosion produced tipped him off to the fact that the boom was produced by fireworks.
“It didn’t sound like a firearm. I was in the military, and it didn’t have a thumping sound,” he said. “It sounded like more like an echo and not a gunshot.”
Nate Bosch, a landscape architecture senior, was on the third floor when he heard the boom. His class didn’t evacuate the building right away, waiting for police escort five minutes later.
“There was a loud popping noise and a minute and a half later, there was a bunch of yelling coming in,” Bosch said. “We kind of waltzed out. We didn’t really rush out or anything.”
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