Brookline police arrested two men Thursday on armed robbery charges after they allegedly used a credit card stolen Tuesday from a Boston University researcher to buy an MBTA Charlie Card.
Police arrested Wallace Vick, 19, of Dorchester, and Shaqone Cazeau, 20, of Boston, at their apartments on charges of armed robbery while masked and armed robbery with the intent to murder.
The two men were being held at the Brookline Police Station Thursday night. They are expected to be arraigned Friday in Brookline District Court, police said.
“It was the type of crime that really upset the neighborhood,” Police Chief Daniel O’Leary said at a press conference Thursday night at Brookline Police Station. “So we were very pleased to be able to have these two arrests and get the two people that are responsible.”
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Describing the quick investigation, O’Leary said investigators used video footage from private properties in Brookline to see which direction the robbers fled Tuesday after the holdup at Pleasant and Browne streets. MBTA Transit Police assisted with footage of two men using the stolen credit card at the Jackson Square MBTA Station.
The robbery was the latest in a series of holdups of Boston University students since the beginning of the school year. Other suspects were arrested in the earlier incidents.
In Tuesday’s robbery, a 38-year-old postdoctoral fellow from BU was thrown to the ground, stabbed, and punched, police said. The victim told police that he was grabbed from behind. He was taken to the hospital and is now recovering at home, police said Thursday.
A laptop, cellphone, and iPad were stolen, police said. O’Leary said Thursday night that police were in the process of executing search warrants at Vick and Cazeau’s apartments in an effort to recover evidence from the robbery. He said police have already recovered the Charlie Cards purchased with the stolen credit card.
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O’Leary said that once detectives obtained images of the two men at the Jackson Square MBTA station, they sent out the photo to law enforcement agencies. Boston police, Boston school police, and probation officers helped identify Vick and Cazeau.
O’Leary said the two men are not suspected of any other robberies in Brookline.
Last week, Brookline police arrested Evan Holmes, 29, and issued an arrest warrant for Tyler James Mauritson, 29, of Quincy, on charges of armed robbery in connection with the Jan. 19 holdup of three BU students at the intersection of Saint Paul and Freeman streets.
After this week’s robbery, Boston University and local police departments announced plans to step up patrols.
Robert A. Brown, the university’s president, said patrols had been significantly bolstered after robberies in the fall and earlier this winter.
Meanwhile, about 4 miles away, Boston College police said they would step up patrols after receiving reports of two armed robberies during the past week, one at the intersection of Reservoir Avenue and Lee Road in Newton, the other on Lake Street in Brighton.
Brock Parker can be reached at brock.globe@gmail.com.