HBS Student Victim Of Unarmed Robbery

A Harvard Business School student was the victim of an unarmed robbery at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, according to a Harvard University Police advisory sent to the Harvard community yesterday.

When returning to his residence at the Business School after having dinner and grocery shopping in Harvard Square, Yongqing Lin was attacked by two unarmed men behind Hamilton Hall, according to an e-mail that Lin sent to his friends.

Lin said that men grabbed and wrestled him to the ground. While one pressed him down and said “Give me your money,” the other removed Lin’s wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. The suspects then fled across the JFK bridge toward Cambridge, according to the police report and Lin’s e-mail.

Lin said that he immediately reported the incident to Business School security in Aldrich Hall and filed a report with HUPD, though he was unable to identify either of the two robbers. Lin said that he did not get injured in the incident, which lasted about 20 seconds.

“I am completely fine, both physically and mentally,” Lin wrote.

Lin’s friend eventually found his wallet—emptied of all cash and cards—at the Cambridge side of the JFK bridge, according to Lin.

The victim said that he was later contacted about the incident by Barbara A. Siegfriedt, co-director of MBA Student and Academic Services, and Youngme E. Moon, a professor at the Business School.

In his e-mail, Lin advised his friends against taking the path outside Hamilton and carrying grocery bags when walking alone.

The recent incident is the second robbery that has occurred in the month of December, and the eleventh robbery in the Harvard area since Nov. 1. Six of the 11 crimes—including the most recent one—have involved Harvard affiliates, and another group of six were committed by armed suspects.

Prior to Lin’s run-in with the robbers, a graduate student had his cell phone stolen by two unarmed black males near the Cambridge Center for Adult Education last Tuesday.

—Staff Writer Hana N. Rouse can be reached at hrouse@college.harvard.edu.