Grad Student Struck, Robbed

A female Harvard graduate student was struck on the head with a weapon and robbed on Banks Street in Cambridge yesterday, in what police say was an unusual daylight armed robbery.

At approximately 12:30 p.m., the victim was entering her residence near Mather House when an offender delivered repeated blows to her head with a metal object. The assailant fled after taking the victim’s pocketbook.

“We didn’t recover a weapon,” said Frank T. Pasquarello, spokesman for Cambridge Police Department (CPD). “It appeared to be a tire iron, could have been a crowbar. When someone is hitting you, it’s hard to describe it.”

The victim sustained a head laceration and was provided with medical treatment.

“She is fine,” said Pasquarello. “[They are] not life-threatening injuries.”

But what police say is most unusual was that the victim was assaulted in broad daylight—and that two other armed robberies occurred at nearly the same time yesterday afternoon in Cambridge.

A community advisory e-mailed to students yesterday by the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) mentioned two other incidents of armed robbery: one in the vicinity of Cambridge City Hospital, another in Cambridgeport.

“They were within five minutes of each other so it does not appear to be the same person,” said Pasquarello, referring to the Banks Street robbery and the incident near Cambridge City Hospital.

A man’s wallet was taken at approximately 12:35 p.m. during the armed robbery near the hospital. The victim of this incident was also struck on the head.

“This is kind of unusual,” said Pasquarello. “We usually don’t have a level of violence in a street robbery. It is stranger than most cases. [They] usually grab a pocketbook and run—usually there is no assault.”

When providing a description to police, the Banks Street victim could only ascertain that her assailant was male.

“Daylight robberies are uncommon,” said Steven G. Catalano, HUPD spokesman. “It’s hard to remember the last time there was a daylight armed robbery [in the area].”

Leelee Brown, a student at the Graduate School of Design (GSD) who lives on Banks Street, said that many students from both the Harvard Business School and GSD live on her street.

“Because there is a lot of pedestrian activity, it always feels safe,” Brown said.

She added that last year’s shooting on Athens Street nearby and the more recent armed robbery on Banks Street caused her to question the safety of the area.

“It’s always creepy to hear about these things. It’s misleading,” she said.

Another resident of Banks Street, Denise J. Rosetti ’02, still feels the area is “pretty safe.” Rosetti’s roommate witnessed the aftermath of the robbery.

“[My roommate] was coming home from getting groceries,” Rosetti said. “It sounded like there was a gathering of people that responded. She first thought it was a car accident.”

As of yesterday, CPD, which has jurisdiction over the investigation because the incident did not occur on Harvard property, had not yet found a suspect. HUPD and CPD are working in conjunction by deploying both uniformed and plainclothes officers to patrol the area, and increasing the number of “park and walks” by officers.

—Staff writer Robin M. Peguero can be reached at peguero@fas.harvard.edu.