Man Arrested for Robbing Homeless Man in Square

The Cambridge Police Department (CPD) arrested a local resident early Monday morning following an armed robbery in Harvard Square.

Majid Sayad, 29, of Cambridge, allegedly approached a homeless man and took his money at knifepoint at around 2 a.m. yesterday, CPD spokesman Frank T. Pasquarello said.

The incident occurred on Mifflin Place, behind Mt. Auburn St. near the Harvard Square post office.

After the victim reported the incident and described the suspect, a CPD officer observed him at the intersection of Eliot Street and Winthrop Street and arrested him, Pasquarello said.

Officers from the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) assisted in the arrest.

The homeless man, who Pasquarello would not identify, was not injured during the robbery.

According to HUPD statistics, there have been about two dozen crimes on public property near the Harvard campus each year from 2001 to 2003.

Across the city, there were a total of 229 robberies last year, according to the CPD’s 2003 Annual Crime Report, which represented the highest increase in robberies since 1995.

Of these crimes, 41 were commercial robberies and 188 were street robberies. Street robberies were up 21 percent from 2002, compared to a 2 percent increase in commercial robberies.

The report listed “predatory robberies” as the most common, with 91 instances in 2003.

“In the typical scenario, one or two men approach the victim with knife or gun and demand cash,” the report said. “Cambridge typically experiences more two-person predatory robberies than any other type.”