BRIEF: Harvard Affiliates Assaulted in Two Incidents, One Victim Stabbed

Two Harvard affiliates were robbed at knifepoint Monday night, with one victim receiving stab wounds to the arm, the Cambridge Police reported yesterday.

The two incidents occurred just six minutes apart shortly after 11 p.m. on Monday in the vicinity of Kirkland and Irving Streets and Harvard Divinity School.

According to yesterday’s Cambridge Police advisory, which was distributed to the Harvard community via e-mail, both victims described the suspects as African-American males, one “very heavy set and the other as tall and thin.” That description matches those given in a series of four street robberies at knifepoint near MIT last week.

In the second of the two incidents on Monday, the victim resisted handing over his property after asked by the suspect.

“When the victim refused, the tall male stabbed the victim in the upper arm while the heavy suspect assaulted him.  The suspects took a cell phone, wallet and cash from the victim and fled the area,” the advisory stated.

The recent string of robberies has caused the police to reiterate that victims should not resist in such a situation—a point that yesterday’s e-mail emphasized in all-caps.

Four local police departments, including those of Harvard and MIT, are “deploy[ing] extra resources” in an effort to apprehend the suspects, Cambridge police said.