The knife-wielding madman who stabbed four girls at a Massachusetts theater before stabbing a couple inside a McDonald's has been identified as Jared Ravizza. Ravizza, who was wearing a blond wig and drove a Porsche to the scene, laughed as he stabbed the four young girls watching the kids' movie "IF" at AMC Braintree.
He then attacked two more people at a McDonald's, according to police and witnesses. Ravizza, 26, of Martha's Vineyard, is also a suspect in a murder investigation in Connecticut. He is accused of wounding four girls at the AMC Braintree 10 movie theater near Boston in eastern Massachusetts around 6 p.m. on Saturday, according to police.
Random Attack
Ravizza walked into the theater and stabbed the four children without saying a word, according to Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz. The victims were all under 17 years old, with the youngest being only 9 years old.
"Without saying anything and without any warning, he suddenly attacked and stabbed the four young females," the Braintree Police Department said in a statement. "The attack appeared to be unprovoked. After the attack, the man ran out of the theater and left in a vehicle."
Local mom Lisa Dembowski told WCVB 5 in Boston that her three daughters and their friend were the victims.
The girls were there to see the movie "IF," a PG-rated film starring Ryan Reynolds about a girl who starts seeing other people's imaginary friends that they left behind in childhood.
"I got a call from my sister that my oldest daughter had called her (and) that I needed to get to the AMC movie theater right away because they had been stabbed," Dembowski told the outlet. "Honestly, I just got in my car and headed right there."
When she arrived, cops took her inside, and she was shocked to see people still buying tickets at the open theater as if nothing had happened.
Then her girls told her what had happened while they were enjoying the movie.
"They were the only four people in this movie theater," she said. "They had just sat down. They had just got their concessions."
"I guess he came up behind them in the row — they were in the second row — and he came up behind them," she continued. "My oldest was leaned over to get something. He got her in the back and then my other daughter in the top of the chest.
"Then, my last daughter across her arm — laughing the whole time — and then got their friend and then ran off."
Horror Show
The girls were rushed to Boston-area hospitals and treated for non-life-threatening injuries. A movie theater concessions worker described the suspect as wearing "an oversized trench coat, sunglasses, and a long blonde wig," according to CBS Boston. However, local media reports state that Ravizza's blond hair is real and not a wig.
Ravizza then fled in a Porsche SUV and drove 30 miles to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where he allegedly stabbed two employees at a rest-stop McDonald's on Route 3.
According to investigators who reviewed surveillance video, Ravizza reached through the drive-thru window and stabbed a 29-year-old man with a knife. He then parked his black 2018 Porsche Macan, went inside, and stabbed a 21-year-old woman, Cruz said on social media.
The victims were also treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Ravizza allegedly then led police on a car chase that ended when he crashed his expensive car in Sandwich, Massachusetts.
Police arrested him around 7:15 p.m. and brought him to the hospital for treatment.
He faces several charges in Plymouth, including assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, according to the district attorney.
Ravizza may also be linked to a murder investigation at a home in Deep River, Connecticut, according to the Connecticut State Police.
Police found a body in the small town around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, according to WCVB.
Connecticut State Police had issued an alert earlier for the suspect, describing him as "armed and dangerous" with a 10-inch knife, CBS Boston reported.
"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 State Police said in a news release.
