On Tuesday evening, the Brunswick Police Department (BPD) arrested two men following a report by students that the men threatened and shouted racial slurs at them from a pickup truck on Longfellow Avenue. Bowdoin Safety and Security officers responded shortly after the incident and were also threatened by the men.

Executive Director of Safety and Security Bill Harwood alerted the campus community to these incidents in an email on Wednesday afternoon, stating that BPD had located the men in the Hannaford parking lot in Brunswick soon after the events and placed them under arrest.

“Both men, ages 19 and 20, face multiple charges stemming from this and several incidents in other parts of Brunswick and have been prohibited from returning to campus,” Harwood wrote.

The event follows similar drive-by hate incidents last fall in which students reported occupants of a vehicle shouting racial slurs on multiple occasions. The perpetrators of last year’s incidents were subsequently identified, banned from Bowdoin’s campus and served with both criminal trespass and disorderly conduct warnings by BPD.

In his email, Harwood praised the students and first responders whose quick responses led to the offenders’ arrest.

“I especially commend the students for their vigilance and immediately reporting the incident,” Harwood wrote. “I also thank our Bowdoin Safety and Security officers, [BPD] and the Brunswick Fire Department, whose coordinated efforts led to the swift arrests.”