“It felt as if a chemical was spilled on my face.”

The initial Boston Globe story of the incident in 1988 has three themes running through it; the incident would not be seen as prank, but a crime; the powerful and caustic nature of the tear gas caused pain and burned the skin of the students and first responders; and security at the dorms was loose and easy for “strangers” to get into the building.

Students living on the second floor where the tear gas canister was detonated literally jumped out of the windows to escape. Firefighters suffered burns on the back of their necks and around their faces.

Boston Fire Captain Matthew Corbett seemed angry. He was quoted saying, “ This is a serious crime. It’s outrageous. A person can get a 20-year sentence for this.”

The third theme, that “anyone from outside” or “strangers” could easily get into the dorm implies that the suspect was not a BC student.

Was the second floor of Edmonds a random location for an outsider to play a prank on college students? Or did someone knowing let him in?

Post your recollections, and start a discussion about the lasting effects of that night.

Culture of False Alarms

Was there a culture of people who enjoyed pulling false fire alarms in the Boston College dorms? I remember my freshmen dorm, Keys North, experienced dozens of nighttime false fire alarms over the course of the year. While the vast majority of us living in the dorm were terribly annoyed by them, someone, or a collection of individuals, must have enjoyed causing a disruption in people’s night.

Was it a power trip they enjoyed? That they, singularly, caused dozens of people to wake up and stand outside in the dark. Was it the thrill of doing something wrong and illegal, and getting away with it, that was their motive? Did they think it was a practical joke, where the only thing the victims lost was a good night sleep? And is there anything more fun than playing a joke on someone, except playing a joke on a hundred people at the same time?

Do people who pull false alarms laugh and tell their friends? “Hey, guess what? I just woke up Walsh for the second time tonight.” Or do they expect to feel scorn and disapproval from their peers, and stay silent?

You may believe that someone who pulls a false alarm is deviant from the rest of the student body, and maybe so. But why were there false alarms after false alarms in seemingly every dorm, every year. Why was there a collection of individuals who thought it was fun / acceptable to pull and run?

Out of this mindset came one person who wanted to go one step further, be more audacious and aggressive, thoughtless and destructive. Could he ever have imagined that this one insular and sophomoric act could have such terrible consequences?

Overview of the Boston College Tear Gas Incident

When someone comes forward and accepts the responsibilities of their crimes, what benefit do they get in return? Is the loss of a comfortable lifestyle and a prison term too expensive to offset the peace of mind that comes with acknowledging the consequences of a crime committed almost 20 years ago that led to a police officer's death?

One evening in the fall of 1988 someone threw a tear gas grenade in the hallway of a nine-floor dormitory at Boston College. The powerful, military-grade tear gas quickly flowed into the building's air conditioning system, forcing 800 students to evacuate. Twenty-four students, five Boston College Police Officers and two Boston Firefighters were taken to the hospital.

To some the incident was just a sophomoric and dangerous prank - like a false fire alarm except with the added inconvenience of the smoky tear gas. To authorities it was a serious matter, and an official arson investigation was launched. However little evidence was produced; the tear gas canister had been stolen from a military depot, and a description of a possible suspect: a young man with a "military style hair cut." The suspect was never identified, although some people wonder if the perpetrator was a Boston College student. In the almost twenty years since then he hasn't come forward to admit to his crime.

Boston College police officer Thomas Devlin had been one of the first emergency responders to enter the building. The military-grade teargas caused burns on more than sixty percent of his lungs. He spent the next 19 years fighting viral lung infections, and died in 2007. In 2008 his name was added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial as a law enforcement officer who had died as a direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty

Boston College is considered a leading Catholic university in the United States. Demographically its 140,000 alumni are financially well off compared to most Americans. The university's billion-dollar endowment speaks to how the alumni are fiercely loyal to the school, its Catholic tradition and each other. It troubles some alumni that there may be one of their own who, while may have only intended a disruptive prank, caused the death of police officer, has never had the courage to come forward and acknowledge the consequences of their actions. In a community where so many find reconciliation to be one of the 7 tenants of their faith, they wonder why he has not done so.