Police officer shot dead on MIT campus in Cambridge, Mass.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 19 (UPI) -- A police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was gunned down Thursday night on the school's Cambridge campus.

Police officers flooded the urban campus after the 10:30 p.m. shooting, The Boston Globe reported. Students were warned to stay inside.

The Middlesex County district attorney's office said the officer was shot several times by an unknown assailant. His identity was not released Thursday night.

The officer was shot as he responded to a disturbance report near the edge of the campus, officials said.

Police also searched the Red Line on the Boston-area subway system, which has a stop near the MIT campus.