Cambridge police seek suspect in stabbings outside mall

Police were searching last night for suspects in the stabbing of three males outside the CambridgeSide Galleria in Cambridge .

The victims, whom police did not identify, were stabbed on First Street , which bo rders the mall. Police received emergency calls from a store inside the mall at 7:50 , said Frank Pasquarello , a spokesman for the Cambridge Police Department.

The victims ran from First Street into the mall, using an entrance on CambridgeSide Place, police said. They were taken to a Boston hospital, but their conditions were not known.

At an entrance to an underground parking garage , investigators last night were examining a black and silver knife. Nearby, yellow police tape blocked part of the sidewalk on First Street as investigators photographed a small pool of blood and other evidence in front of the office of Representative Michael E. Capuano .

Last night's stabbings were not the first acts of violence outside the mall. In December 2004, a 19-year-old Boston man was shot in the stomach near the east entrance. At the time, the shooting was the third in or near the mall within 10 years.

And in December 2002, a teenager was stabbed in the back , also on First Street , after a fight.

MICHAEL P. NAUGHTON