Student Robbed at Knifepoint on Divinity Avenue, Police Says

A male undergraduate was robbed at knifepoint on Divinity Avenue on Wednesday night, the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) said in a community advisory yesterday.

The student victim was not identified. According to the police, a man approached the undergraduate from behind on a footpath near the Semitic Museum, displayed a knife, and demanded his money. The student gave his attacker the money and was not injured, the police said.

The incident occurred around the same time as three other robberies in Cambridge and Somerville, the advisory, which was sent to the Harvard community, said.

“Harvard University Police Department is working closely with both the Cambridge and Somerville Police Departments to ascertain if the robberies are connected, and if so, to identity the suspect so that an arrest can be made,” the advisory said.

The robbery was the second attack on a Harvard affiliate made public in a HUPD advisory this month. A female staff member reported being accosted by a man on the corner of Plympton and Mill Streets on the evening of Saturday, Jan. 5. She said that he pulled her hair and punched her in the face while attempting to take her purse, according to the police. She fought back, and the suspect fled.