On Saturday (25), a suspect was arrested after six people – including four girls aged between 9 and 17 – were stabbed in separate attacks, which authorities in the US state of Massachusetts say are likely related.
The first victims were four girls who were attacked in a cinema. The girls suffered minor injuries and were taken to Boston hospitals for treatment, according to Braintree police.
About an hour later, a 21-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man were stabbed at a McDonald's in Plymouth and taken to hospitals without life-threatening injuries.
Jared Ravizza, 26, is the suspect in “several stabbing incidents in South Shore,” the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office said, although no details were provided about the other incidents.
Braintree police said it “appears” the attacks at the movie theater and McDonald's are related.
Last month, Ravizza was arrested on Martha's Vineyard on charges of assault and battery on a family member and vandalism, according to Edgartown District Court records. Records show the case was not tried.
Ravizza was arrested 15 minutes after fleeing the crime scene at McDonald's on Saturday night (26). He faces multiple assault charges, the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office announced in a news release.
The suspect is expected to appear in court on Tuesday (28), and it was not immediately clear on Monday (25) whether Ravizza had a lawyer.
Crimes happened over the weekend; understand
The stabbing of the four girls at the AMC happened at around 6pm in the city of Braintree. The theater was closed shortly after the incident, an AMC employee told CNN .
“Without saying anything and without any warning, he suddenly attacked and stabbed the four young women,” police said of the suspect. “The attack appeared to be unprovoked. After the incident, the man ran out of the cinema and drove away in a vehicle,” he added.
Police learned that the suspect left the theater in what appeared to be a black car, and video footage allowed authorities to record the vehicle's license plate.
A vehicle matching the description was “allegedly involved in a similar robbery in Plymouth,” which is about a 30-minute drive south of Braintree, police said.
According to prosecutors, Ravizza arrived at the scene of the stabbing at the Plymouth McDonald's in a black Porsche Macan SUV. Police were called around 7 p.m., about an hour after the Braintree movie theater attack, the district attorney's office said.
The restaurant's security cameras appear to show Ravizza entering the drive-through window and stabbing a man with a large knife, according to prosecutors.
The video shows the suspect parking his car, entering the restaurant and stabbing the woman before fleeing in the vehicle, according to prosecutors.
A few minutes later, state police located the suspect's car, but he did not stop when they tried to stop him. Police pursued the vehicle, which crashed in Sandwich, about 25 minutes south of Plymouth, police said.
“The preliminary investigation suggests a likely connection to an earlier incident at a movie theater in Braintree that resulted in non-life-threatening injuries to four juveniles,” state police said.
Ravizza was taken to a hospital on Sunday for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, the prosecutor's office said.
A CNN was unable to identify an attorney for Ravizza, but sought further information from the Massachusetts State Police, the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office and Braintree Police.
The Massachusetts State Police investigation is ongoing.
Separately, Connecticut State Police said a suspect linked to a death in the town of Deep River had been taken into custody in Massachusetts. Police in neither state have confirmed whether the Connecticut case is linked to the Massachusetts case.
In a statement released late Saturday (25), Connecticut State Police said they responded to a “disturbance” at an address in the city. There, police found a “deceased individual” whose identity has not been confirmed.
“A suspect in this investigation has been taken into custody in the State of Massachusetts and there is no active threat to the public,” the statement said.
The suspect's name was not mentioned.
Source: CNN Brasil
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