Armed Men Mug Student

As two men brandishing a handgun robbed him of $60 in cash and his cell phone on Monday night, a freshman calmly negotiated with his jittery assailants, nearly got run over as they made their getaway and then hopped in a car to give chase.

Robert K. Lord ’08 was robbed at gunpoint at approximately 9:10 p.m. near his dorm Pennypacker Hall, according to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD). The suspects approached the 18-year-old as he walked on Harvard Street near Ware Street, talking with his girlfriend over his cell phone.

“Normal conflict is something that I can deal with—I’m a martial artist,” Lord said. “This guy pulls out a gun, point its at my stomach and the whole game changes right there.”

He said the two offenders engaged in “absurd dialogue” with one another. One suspect asked the other, “should I pop him?”

“It was such an absurd, scripted comment,” he said. “I almost found it humorous. If there was not a weapon pointed at my stomach waiting to be discharged, I would have laughed.”

But even while facing the barrel of a gun, Lord suspected the weapon was not real.

“It almost looked fake,” he said. “The clicking sound was almost like a plastic sound. Everything was designed to intimidate but they had a a low level of sophistication in doing so.”

Lord said he bargained with the two assailants to keep his electronic daily organizer and nearly convinced them to give back his cell phone.

“I said, ‘Give me back my cell phone. That’s of no value to you guys,’” he said. “They actually tried to give me back the cell phone.”

But the two men wanted to keep the battery and were too jittery to properly separate the battery and the phone.

“At that point, they started to get nervous. They were shaking,” Lord said. “I got the feeling these people were bullies—not killers. Bullies are a heck of a lot easier to get away from than murderers. I was certain that they were not going to shoot me, more or less.”

The suspects fled in a “small, red car” according to HUPD spokesman Steven G. Catalano, leaving their victim unharmed.

“This probably took about 10 to 15 seconds to go through,” Catalano said.

“I was screaming [for help] for 45 seconds and then I started to hear the sirens,” Lord said. “I was really impressed by the response capabilities of HUPD.”

Pennypacker resident Caroline S. Hostetter ’08—whose room looks out onto Ware Street—heard Lord’s yells and alerted HUPD to the robbery.

“I was just in my room doing my work when I heard a guy screaming, ‘Help, police—I’ve been robbed,’” Hostetter said. “I called HUPD from my cellphone. Two minutes later, there was like three police cars on the street.”

One of the suspects is described as a 40-year-old clean-shaven, black male. The suspect—standing at about 5’7’’ to 5’10’’ and weighing about 140 to 170 pounds—was wearing a tan winter jacket, according to a HUPD community advisory sent out yesterday. Lord was unable to give HUPD a detailed composite of the second suspect.

“The [suspect] was in the shadows, kind of behind him,” Catalano said. “It was hard for him to get a good look.”

“Facial features blur like nothing else in that situation,” Lord said. “You’re focusing on that gun and how you’re going to keep it from discharging.”

He chased the robbers moments after they fled and was almost run over trying to read their license plate number.

A nearby city resident who heard his screams ran out, according to Lord, and took him along in his car to follow the robbers—but to no avail.

Pennypacker residents said yesterday the robbey had made them anxious about security issues in the Union dorms.

“I find it ridiculous that you never see anyone around here—no security guard, no policeman. Not even during Head of the Charles,” said Joanna R. Miller ’08, a resident of Pennypacker.

Because the robbery did not occur on Harvard property, the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) is investigating the matter.

“Everytime there is an armed robbery, we put additional officers in the area,” said CPD spokeman Frank T. Pasquarello.

After the incident, HUPD reiterated that students should take precautions when walking after dark.

“Whenever possible, walk with someone else,” Catalano said. “One of the important things people can do is not to walk alone.”

—Staff writer Robin M. Peguero can be reached at peguero@fas.harvard.edu.