A 26-year-old man accused in a weekend stabbing spree that injured six people, including four girls, in Massachusetts was ordered to undergo a court-ordered evaluation Tuesday.
Jared Ravizza, 26, is accused of attacking four girls at a movie theater in Braintree before stabbing two employees of a McDonald’s at a rest stop in Plymouth. He was arrested Saturday after a car chase that ended when he crashed his 2018 black Porsche Macan.
A judge on Tuesday granted a request from Ravizza’s court-appointed attorney for a competency evaluation at his arraignment in Plymouth. He did not enter a plea, and his attorney declined a request for comment.
In Plymouth, Ravizza has been charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, one count of armed assault to murder, and one count of indecent exposure.
A criminal complaint was filed in Braintree charging Ravizza with four counts of assault to murder as well as four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Connecticut State Police said Tuesday that Ravizza is also tied to a death investigation from Saturday afternoon in Deep River.
2 McDonald’s employees stabbed in Plymouth
Massachusetts State Police and Plymouth Police officers responded to a McDonald’s on Saturday night after calls that two employees were stabbed by a customer.
According to witness interviews and surveillance footage, Ravizza pulled to the drive-thru window at 6:52 p.m., got into a verbal argument with an employee working the window, Igor Marques, and stabbed him roughly one minute later, police said.
Marques told police that he and his co-worker were prepping Ravizza’s order — two double cheeseburgers, a small french fry and a McFlurry. When Ravizza pulled up to the window, he demanded silverware and for Marques to remove all the items from the bag to ensure his order was correct, according to officials.
Ravizza allegedly went to grab the bag, which is when Marques said he pulled back and Ravizza lunged forward with a knife, officials said. Surveillance footage described in the criminal complaint seemed to corroborate Marques’ witness statement.
According to the criminal complaint, the slash wound on Marques’ arm was approximately 3.5 centimeters long and 1.5 centimeters deep.
Marques rushed outside to call his supervisor and police. One of his coworkers told police he fled into another room to call for help, where he heard someone yelling “stop” and “don’t do this,” authorities said.
Another employee who was working the front told police that Ravizza pulled his car around and parked outside after Marques was wounded. He allegedly walked into the building with a knife where he stabbed another employee, Eliamny Garcia, officials said.
Garcia was interviewed by police at the hospital, where staff told police she suffered three stab wounds. She required four stitches on the largest wound on her upper left arm.
According to police, Garcia said Ravizza walked in holding the knife above his head and started to rush toward her. She was stabbed as she ran to the back of the restaurant, where she hid until authorities arrived, the complaint said.
A woman told officials she saw a man matching Ravizza’s description expose himself and urinate outside a Porsche in the drive-thru line. She compared the look on his face to “Jack Nicholson’s expression in ‘The Shining.” He told her he had to pee and gestured with his middle finger at her, according to police.
The woman told authorities she saw the man swinging a large knife and that his upper torso was partially outside his driver’s window.
Ravizza tied to movie stabbing
Authorities believe Ravizza was involved in two other incidents before the stabbing in Plymouth.
An hour before the violence at McDonald’s, police responded to a stabbing about 30 miles north at a movie theater in Braintree. Authorities did not provide details on the alleged assault in the criminal complaint, but the police department said four girls between 9 and 17 years old were attacked “without saying anything and without any warning.”
Lisa Dembowski told NBC Boston that her three daughters were going to see “If” with a friend when a man allegedly came up behind them as they were sitting down.
“The two younger ones, I think, are just handling it, I think, a little better,” Dembowski said. “The older one is very protective of them, and she is just more worried just in general about them and how they’re going to be doing.”
The girls are expected to recover physically, but Dembowski said they were emotionally shaken.
A criminal complaint was filed Tuesday against Ravizza in the Braintree incident, but a spokesperson for the Norfolk District Attorney’s office said he has not been transported to appear in court on those charges.
Connecticut homicide investigation
The criminal complaint filed in the Plymouth incident said that Massachusetts State Police were contacted by Connecticut authorities for assistance in performing a check on Ravizza’s Massachusetts residence. He was described as a “person of interest” in a “homicide” investigation.
Connecticut State Police said in a statement Tuesday that Ravizza was identified at the scene of an incident at home in Deep River on Saturday. Troopers responded to a Merriwold Lane home at 3:36 p.m. following reports that a suspect “threw a shovel through the front door window pane and then left.”
Police said the suspect was identified as someone staying at a nearby home, where troopers discovered a man with “visible injuries” outside. That man was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The man was identified as 70-year-old Bruce Feldman, but authorities did not provide a cause of death.
Authorities said that Ravizza’s belongings were found at the scene and that witnesses provided a description of him. He was not named as a suspect in Feldman’s death in Tuesday’s statement.
The Connecticut State Police said the investigation is ongoing.
