Woman Stabbed in Galleria by Mall Employee

A Dorchester woman was arrested Saturday afternoon for stabbing an unidentified female in the CambridgeSide Galleria Mall following an argument over a man, according to the Cambridge police.

Cambridge police officers arrested 23-year-old Margo Beckers, an employee of the mall's Nine West shoe store, at roughly 1:30 p.m. in the Galleria.

The unidentified victim, who police say does not work in the mall, was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment.

"[The crime] was allegedly, according to witnesses, over a boy or a man they both knew," said Cambridge Police spokesperson Lt. Frank T. Pasquarello.

Witnesses at the scene told The Boston Globe that the two women argued for several minutes outside Filene's and Nine West on the third floor before Beckers allegedly attacked the victim.

"I heard screaming, and [the victim] was saying how they [man and woman] had spent the night together," Rochelle Mills, a clerk at Filene's, told The Globe.

Beckers was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault with attempt to murder.

A Crimson investigation revealed last spring that many in the Galleria's East Cambridge neighborhood fear the mall attracts a criminal element.

"There is a hell of a lot of crime," said Richard J. Vendetti, the president of the East Cambridge Planning Team, a local neighborhood council, and coordinator of the East Cambridge Crime Task Force. "It seems to be mainly contained in the mall, but I am sure that some of it flows into the neighborhood."

A number of locals said mall management does not sufficiently police the mall and the area surrounding it, allowing the area to become a haven for criminals.

"Although the management of the Galleria would say that it spends three to four times as much on security at the Galleria as they do at other malls, they do very little security outside the building," said Alfred B. Fantini, a Cambridge School Committee member.

In May, a Cambridge teenager was shot across the street from the mall's main entrance.

Last October, a man with a pipe attacked an armored-car employee at the mall. Also that month, a masked man with a gun attempted to hold up the cash office at the Galleria's Sears store.

But police and mall officials said that this weekend's stabbing was an isolated incident and that the mall is safe.

"The Galleria is a nice mall which thousand of people go through everyday without any problems," Pasquarello said. "This was an isolated incident.

"Although the management of the Galleria would say that it spends three to four times as much on security at the Galleria as they do at other malls, they do very little security outside the building," said Alfred B. Fantini, a Cambridge School Committee member.

In May, a Cambridge teenager was shot across the street from the mall's main entrance.

Last October, a man with a pipe attacked an armored-car employee at the mall. Also that month, a masked man with a gun attempted to hold up the cash office at the Galleria's Sears store.

But police and mall officials said that this weekend's stabbing was an isolated incident and that the mall is safe.

"The Galleria is a nice mall which thousand of people go through everyday without any problems," Pasquarello said. "This was an isolated incident.