4 girls hurt during unprovoked stabbing attack in AMC movie theater near Boston; suspect arrested
BRAINTREE - A male suspect has been arrested in connection with a stabbing that wounded four girls in an AMC movie theater south of Boston Saturday, authorities said. CBS Boston has learned that the same suspect may be responsible for a similar incident which may have occurred at a McDonald's restaurant in Plymouth.
A man stabbed four girls inside a theater at an AMC multiplex in Braintree at around 6 p.m. local time, the Braintree Police Department reported. Braintree is located about 12 miles south of Boston.
Police said the man entered the multiplex without a ticket, went into a theater, and then attacked the four girls, ages 9 to 17, unprovoked. The girls were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
"It's so heartbreaking that's what I'll be thinking about the rest of the night is seeing those kids coming down the steps and just crying. They looked really stunned like they just saw a horror movie, not a kid's movie," said Matteo Rojas, who was at the theater at the time of the stabbing.
An AMC employee who was working the snack counter at the time of the attack described the suspect as wearing "an oversized trench coat, sunglasses, and a long blonde wig."
According to @BraintreePolice four girls under the age of 17 were stabbed inside of a theater at @AMCTheatres in Braintree, MA around 6:00pm. All four are expected to be ok. We’re told the suspect was involved in a “similar assault” in Plymouth a short time after… @wbz pic.twitter.com/2DQk5Fx4Tx
— Laura Haefeli (@LauraHaefeli) May 26, 2024
The suspect fled the scene in a black SUV, but police were able to obtain his license plate number using video footage and located him in Plymouth after he was reportedly involved in a "similar assault" there, police said. CBS Boston learned that the second possible attack may have occurred around 7 p.m. at a McDonald's restaurant, where a 21-year-old woman and a 29-year-old male were allegedly stabbed. Both victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries and are being treated at a nearby hospital. Police said it appears the "crimes are related."
"Preliminary investigation suggests a likely connection to an earlier incident at a movie theatre in Braintree resulting in non-life threatening injuries to four juveniles," Massachusetts State Police said.
The suspect led Massachusetts State Police on a car chase before crashing in the town of Sandwich, which is located south of Plymouth. He was taken into custody and is being treated at a nearby hospital.
Sources told the WBZ-TV I-Team that the suspect is also believed to be linked to a murder investigation in Deep River, Connecticut. Connecticut police had put out a alert for him earlier Saturday, describing him as armed and dangerous and possibly armed with a 10-inch knife, sources said.
The suspect's name and the charges he faces were not immediately released.