Lacrosse Suspect Tied To Law School Crime

The same man who assaulted lacrosse team members in early February may have committed a robbery Tuesday at a Harvard Law School athletic facility, University Police officials said yesterday.

In three separate locker break-ins, a thief stole more than $100 from the law school's Hemingway Athletic Center, according to the Harvard University Police Department.

The crime resembles previous robberies committed by R. Christopher Ingraham, the police's principal suspect in the lacrosse-team incident, University Chief Paul E. Johnson said.

"[Ingraham] has been known to go into gyms and get IDs and cash by breaking into lockers," said a police official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "It could be nothing, but there could be a connection. He's running scared now and this is exactly how he gets his money and clothes."

Johnson said that Ingraham, 39, is still at large in the Boston-Cambridge area, and police consider him armed and dangerous.

Boston Police also want Ingraham in connection with a Huntington Avenue shooting on January 24. According to Boston Police Officer James F. Browning, Ingraham opened fire on two males and a female after a physical confrontation.

Northeastern University student Shanna Hyman and local residents Gregory P. Pappas and Martin C. Lewis, the victims in the shooting, were treated for gunshot wounds.

The United States Marshall Service also issued a warrant for Ingraham after he threatened a Federal judge in 1984, Johnson said.

Ingraham was last seen by staff members of the Dillon Field House on February 7. When a desk monitor stopped him for failing to show an identification card, Ingraham allegedly shoved the monitor and fled the gym.

The monitor, two other Dillon staff members and members of the lacrosse team confronted Ingraham outside, where he allegedly drew a handgun and ran across the Anderson bridge, police officials said.

A field house staff member followed Ingraham and approached him in John F. Kennedy Park. Ingraham allegedly drew the gun for a second time and fled into the Charles Hotel, according to police.

In response to the February 7 incident, Harvard police increased the number of patrols and plainclothes officers monitoring Harvard athletic centers, Johnson said.

In addition, he said, all area police departments have received Ingraham's picture. University detectives are also compiling a list of stolen identification cards.

Police say that Ingraham is a well-built 5'11" white male with brown hair, blue eyes and red horn rimmed glasses. Johnson said Ingraham is hard to identify around athletic facilities "he looks very much like an athletic student."