911 Calls From Witnesses, Victims Of Taunton Rampage Released
TAUNTON (CBS) -- Police released the chilling 911 calls Thursday from last week's stabbing rampage that left two dead in Taunton.
The first calls were made after 28-year-old Arthur DaRosa entered a home on Myricks Street at random and stabbed Kathleen Slavin and her mother.
"You need police, fire, or medical?" asks a dispatcher in one of the first calls.
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"You're gonna need it all, from what I just heard," answers a man.
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Gasping for breath, Kathleen is heard frantically telling the dispatcher she and her 80-year-old mother, Patricia, had just been stabbed by the stranger they opened their door to because they thought he needed help.
"Oh my God, a guy just came in and stabbed us, me and my mother," Kathleen tells the dispatcher in the call.
"Ma'am, the person that stabbed you, is he still there?" the dispatcher can be heard asking.
"No, he took off in a black car," Kathleen Slavin answers.
Patricia died of her injuries. Her funeral was held Wednesday. Kathleen was recently released from the hospital.
DaRosa then drove to the Silver City Galleria shopping mall, where he attacked three people in a Macy's and then went on another stabbing spree at a Bertucci's. That's where 56-year-old George Heath stepped in to stop the attack, but DaRosa stabbed him in the head, killing him.
"I'm in the Taunton mall, and some guy is randomly attacking somebody," a woman told a dispatcher in one of the released calls.
"Had a guy, black male, a hoodie, short hair, got behind my counter and started strangling me, I fought him off, he ran out of my store," said a man in another call.
An off-duty Plymouth County sheriff's deputy shot and killed DaRosa, ending his spree.
One of the frantic 911 calls went from Massachusetts State Police to the Taunton Fire Department and eventually to EMTs.
Taunton Fire Lt. Kevin Farrar said the process may seem cumbersome, but he believes it is effective.
"Each time they're being asked this a professional is getting the information and then taking that information and making sure that it gets to the appropriate agencies," said Farrar. "So even though they might be asked more than once, each time help is being rendered."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports