Armed robber strikes Pondside

PONDSIDE—An armed robber held up at least two people at gunpoint in the Pondside area near Monument Square this week, including a teacher inside the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, according to the school’s executive director.

A meeting for concerned neighbors with Boston Police officers from the local District E-13 Police Station will be held tonight at 7 p.m. at the Eliot School, 24 Eliot St.

The suspect is described as a black man in his 20s, about 5-feet-8-inches to 6-feet-1-inches tall, medium build, and wearing a black knit cap or a black hoodie, according to Eliot School Executive Director Abigail Norman.

Norman said the suspect robbed a teacher inside an Eliot School classroom around 6 p.m. on Feb. 27 after hanging around in the building for 30 minutes. She said that word from neighbors is that at least one and possibly two similar robberies were committed on nearby streets yesterday. But, she added, the details are confused and it is unclear whether it was one or two incidents or where they happened. The Boston Police Department did not immediately respond to Gazette requests to confirm those alleged crimes.

Norman said that several people noticed the robber hanging out inside the Eliot School, which is a private arts and crafts school for all ages. No one recognized him, she said, and he told people that he was waiting to have a meeting with someone. Instead, he approached a teacher who was talking on a cell phone in a classroom, told him to hang up, then pulled out a gun and said, “Give me your stuff.”

A police cruiser will be stationed outside the school for the time being, and increased security at the school will be one of the topics discussed at tonight’s meeting, Norman said. She said the school does not want to go overboard with security measures and considers the crime a “total anomaly, not a trend.” But changes to such things as lighting are probably going to happen, and all of the doors are being kept locked for now, she said. The Eliot School is a busy place that is frequently open late and has a yard that has been open as a semi-public park, including for dog-walkers. Accessibility of the yard is one of the topics up for discussion, Norman said.

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