A Massachusetts resident was arraigned Tuesday on multiple charges in a stabbing at a McDonald's in Plymouth over the weekend, one of two alleged attacks that injured six people, including four girls at a movie theater, over the weekend, officials said.
Jared Ravizza, a 26-year-old from the Martha's Vineyard town of Chilmark, was held for evaluation on charges of armed assault to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and indecent exposure.
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Ravizza was arrested Saturday night after a police pursuit and multiple stabbings on the South Shore, the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office has said.
A court-appointed attorney for Ravizza asked that the stabbing suspect be evaluated for mental competency, and Ravizza was subsequently ordered held at a state hospital for at least 20 days.
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A psychologist, Dr. Kimberly Bistis, said Ravizza was experiencing "serious delusions" about being controlled and that he did "not demonstrate the rational capacity to work with his attorney."
In court, prosecutors revealed new information about what allegedly took place in the Plymouth stabbings. And more information about Ravizza was released in other jurisdictions: Connecticut State Police definitively connected Ravizza as being connected to a man's death earlier Saturday in the town of Deep River, while court documents from Martha's Vineyard show Ravizza was arrested last month for allegedly assaulting a family member in what that person described as a mental breakdown.
2 stabbed at McDonald's in Plymouth, Mass.
Ravizza appeared in Plymouth District Court Tuesday morning to face charges in the McDonald's stabbings, and as part of the proceeding, an assistant district attorney shared more information about what allegedly took place.
Ravizza allegedly entered the McDonald's drivethrough in a black Porsche, then got out of the vehicle and urinated, before becoming argumentative at the drivethrough window. Ravizza lunged out of the Porsche's vehicle and stabbed the employee with what seemed to be a large kitchen knife, the prosecutor continued.
More on the Braintree, Plymouth stabbings
Ravizza drove the vehicle forward and parked it, then went inside the McDonald's. Behind the counter, prosecutors said, Ravizza stabbed a female employee in the arm, leaving a wound that was about two inches deep. It was that employee's first day on the job, according to a police account shared in the court filing.
Both McDonald's employees were in stable condition as of Tuesday, prosecutors said.
A 16-year-old McDonald's worker, Miguel Oliveira, told NBC10 Boston that he called 911 when he saw his manager and new colleague be stabbed — events that have played over and over again in his mind.
"Every day, I’ve dreamed about it, it’s kind of crazy," he said. "I can't really stop thinking about it. It's kind of traumatic."
A police chase followed the stabbings at the McDonald's, prosecutors said, and it ended in a crash in Sandwich, on Cape Cod, with the Porsche engulfed in flames.
The prosecutor also noted, in asking that Ravizza be held without bail, that Ravizza had been sought in connection with a homicide investigation in Connecticut as well as the movie theater attack.
Ravizza connected to Deep River, Connecticut, death
Soon after Ravizza appeared in court, Connecticut State Police officially said that they were investigating the same Jared Ravizza in the death of a West Hartford man, Bruce Feldman, on Saturday in Deep River.
That incident was reported about 3:36 pm., when a person on Merriwold Lane reported a person throwing a shovel at their front door, then leaving, according to police. The caller said they recognized the person as having stayed at Maritone Lane, nearby, and that some kind of disturbance had been heard at the home.
Troopers went to the address and found a man, later identified as Feldman, with visible injuries outside. He was pronounced dead there, according to police.
Items belonging to Ravizza were found at Maritone Lane home, and Ravizza's appearance was consistent with witnesses' descriptions.
Police said that charges in Connecticut against Ravizza were pending as of Tuesday; it wasn't immediately clear what the charges were.
April Martha's Vineyard incident
Ravizza had been arrested just over a month before the stabbings.
As The Boston Globe reported, Ravizza was arrested in April on Martha's Vineyard and charged with assault and battery on a family or household member, as well as vandalism, after allegedly attacking Ravizza's father, according to court records.
Ravizza’s father told officers that Ravizza “had just had a mental break and attacked him” inside his home, according to the police report.
Ravizza was sent to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital for a mental health evaluation, but “did not meet their standards to be held,″ the report said. The Edgartown case was sent to pretrial diversion.
Braintree police share AMC theater stabbing update
Police have said a person entered the AMC Braintree 10 south of Boston about 6 p.m. Saturday and went into one of the theaters without paying. The girls, ages 9 to 17, were inside the theater when the individual suddenly attacked them “without saying anything and without any warning” before running out, the Braintree Police Department said in a news release.
Lisa Dembowski said her three daughters and their friend were the only ones inside the movie "If" when Ravizza came up behind them.
"My oldest was leaning over to get something. [The suspect] got her in the back and then my other daughter in the top chest, and then my last daughter across her arm, laughing the whole time and then got their friend and then ran off," she said.
The four suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to hospitals.
Braintree police said Tuesday they'd received an arrest warrant for Ravizza on four counts of assault to murder and four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, for which he has yet to be arraigned in Quincy District Court.
They also shared an update on the girls, who are healing from what the department described as an apparently "completely senseless and random" crime.
