Armed Robber Strikes in Yard

A man unaffiliated with Harvard was robbed at gunpoint in the Yard yesterday at 2:45 a.m., according to a community advisory e-mailed to the Harvard affiliates yesterday morning by the Harvard University Police Department.

According to the advisory, the suspect approached the victim and asked for the time as the victim was walking near Thayer Hall. When the victim responded, the suspect displayed a handgun and demanded the victim’s wallet.

The suspect fled the area after the victim, who was not injured, handed over his wallet, according to HUPD’s e-mail.

The victim described the suspect as a thin, Hispanic male in his 20s with facial hair and roughly 5’9” tall. At the time of the robbery, the suspect was wearing dark clothing, including a black baseball hat, according to the victim.

This incident, which is the fifth armed robbery on or close to the Harvard campus in the past two weeks, marks the first in which a victim was held at gunpoint.

In light of the location of this incident—in the Yard, the heart of the College campus—students voiced concerns about campus safety.

“I was under the impression that Harvard was a safe campus, and that was one of the main reasons I came to Harvard,” said Michael L. Wang ’14, who lives in Thayer. “Now I felt unsafe to go to CVS.”

According to HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano, HUPD has “increased visibility and patrols in and around the Yard area.”

David E. Burdette ’14, who also lives in Thayer, said he and his friends might have encountered the suspect before the robbery took place early yesterday morning.

Burdette said that he saw a person matching the suspect’s description yelling at several employees at CVS around 1:30 a.m. Later, as Burdette and his friends walked past Johnston Gate, they saw the same person, who began yelling at Burdette and his group. Burdette added that his group immediately phoned HUPD after the encounter.

—Staff writer Sirui Li can be reached at sli@college.harvard.edu.