Armed Robbers Strike Four in Evening Blitz

In a multi-city crime spree lasting barely an hour, four teenagers held up two Harvard students and two Cantabrigians at gunpoint last night.

None of the victims were injured, and early this morning the suspects remained at large.

The first robbery, around 7 p.m., occurred at the intersection of Harvard and Lee Streets., about seven blocks east of the Yard. Moments later, the robbers struck again, this time at Broadway Street and Dana Street.

The Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) received a call about a third robbery at 8:19 p.m. from a third victim, a female undergraduate.

She told dispatchers that while walking along the pathway between Lowell House and Rosovsky Hall leading onto Plympton St. she was stopped and robbed. Rosovsky Hall houses Harvard Hillel.

Her wallet, Harvard ID and room keys were stolen.

The final robbery of the evening occurred in Allston around 8:30 p.m., when a male undergraduate walking between Kresge Hall and MacArthur Hall at the Business School was robbed also at gunpoint. He was robbed of 10 English pounds.

The suspects fled down the East Drive of the Business School towards the on-campus home of the Business School dean , said Peggy A. McNamara, HUPD's spokesperson.

Squad cars from Harvard, Cambridge and Boston flooded the area in the minutes following the hold-ups.

The robberies were so close in time and place that police are assuming the crimes are related.

"We presume it was the same group," McNamara said. "They walked from one robbery to another."

The victims described the robbers as four black males in their teens. All stood around 6 feet tall. Three wore black puffy jackets, and the fourth--who brandished a small handgun--wore a red puffy jacket and had a scar on his cheek. One of the robbers covered his face with a ski mask, and all four had their collars turned up.

Given that the description contained few details and that the suspects were camouflaged, McNamara said she thought it would be difficult for the victims to identify the culprits.

In the hours following the robberies, Harvard administrators scrambled to notify the campus.

Several residential advisors issued advisories to their entryways. At least one House Master, Howard Georgi of Leverett, wrote an e-mail message to all the residents of his House.

"This should remind us all that ours is an urban campus, no matter how apparently peaceful it is," Georgi wrote.

"Please use appropriate caution when you walk, particularly after dark."

As police investigated the crimes, maintenance crews changed the room locks of one of the victims.

Newly appointed HUPD Capt. Linda M. McCaul will review patrol sectors today to assess whether enough police units are deployed around the River houses.

Additional units, both plainclothes and uniformed, will likely patrol the area, HUPD officials said.

McNamara said she hopes the incident is isolated.

"Right now, it's a singular incident in and of itself," she said. "We'll hope for the best, and hope it remains that way."

But, she admits "we had a very busy evening."

The number of armed robberies in Cambridge has declined in recent years. In the first nine months of 1999, such crimes fell 22 percent. In January of 2000, only 15 robberies were reported.

The last of what police call a "pack" robbery in Cambridge was Feb. 2, when seven males robbed a 20 year-old of his jacket and sneakers at the intersection of Harvard and Norfolk Streets.

In that robbery, the males escaped in a NissanMaxima.