Students Robbed At Gunpoint Near Murr

Two male undergraduates were robbed at gunpoint early yesterday morning as they walked down North Harvard St. near the Murr Athletic Center, according to the Boston Police Department.

The victims were walking north toward Harvard Square at around 1:30 a.m. yesterday when they noticed they were being followed, according to David Estrada, a Boston Police spokesman.

Estrada said that the assailant reportedly approached the students, showed them a black handgun, demanded money, and collected the students’ wallets.

A Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) advisory e-mail sent to the campus yesterday reported that “the offender then punched one of the victims and fled.”

Estrada said that after the incident, the students fled toward the soccer field across from Harvard Stadium, and then called the police.

According to Estrada, the students described the assailant as six feet tall, approximately 180 pounds, and around 20 years old. The HUPD advisory added that he was wearing a black, hooded jacket and is dark-skinned, “possibly Hispanic.”

Estrada said a search conducted by HUPD, Boston Police, and the Massachusetts State Police could not locate the assailant.

Harvard University Department of Athletics spokesman Chuck Sullivan said that it is unlikely that any students were in the area to use its facilities at that time of night. The Murr Center closes at 10:30 p.m. on weekdays.

Sullivan said that the men’s and women’s squash teams, which were scheduled to return from New Haven late Wednesday night, might “conceivably” have been near the Murr Center at the time of the assault.

But Mohammed Ayaz, an assistant coach with the squash teams, said that the teams returned “between 2 and 2:30” yesterday morning and saw police cars at the scene.

Around campus, athletes had mixed reactions to news of the incident, which occurred in close proximity to many of the University’s athletic facilities.

Lily H. Lorentzen ’09, a member of the squash team, said that she felt less safe after hearing about the robbery.

“I leave in the dark every day,” said Lorentzen, who practices with the team at the Murr Center in the evenings.“And if I go running at night, I’m down by the track. I’ll definitely think twice about running at night.”

Kevin J. Koslosky ’07, a varsity swimmer, said he was less worried.

“I don’t think anyone down at the pool feels too unsafe,” Koslosky said yesterday from Pittsburgh, where the swim team is competing. “We’re not down there too late, at those hours.”

Estrada said that no arrests had been made, and that police are still investigating the case.

—Staff writer Laurence H. M. Holland can be reached at lholland@fas.harvard.edu