MASSACHUSETTS, USA — A Massachusetts individual was arraigned Tuesday on multiple charges including assault with the intent to murder after six people, including four girls at a movie theater, were stabbed and wounded in separate attacks, officials said.
Jared Ravizza, 26, of Chilmark, a town on Martha's Vineyard, also was being sought in connection with a homicide investigation in Connecticut, a prosecutor said in Plymouth District Court.
Ravizza was arraigned in connection with the stabbings of two employees at a McDonald’s in the town of Plymouth on Saturday. Ravizza was appointed a lawyer, who asked for a mental health evaluation. The judge agreed to that before deciding on a prosecutor’s motion that Ravizza be held without bail.
Ravizza was referred to as “he” in court by a prosecutor on Tuesday and on a professional website, but uses “she” on Instagram. Ravizza’s gender identity could not immediately be determined.
Also Tuesday, Ravizza was charged with eight counts of assault in connection with the stabbings of the four girls, ages 9 to 17, at the movie theater in Braintree on Saturday. Authorities said that attack occurred before Ravizza drove south to Plymouth, where the fast food workers were stabbed.
The prosecutor said that Ravizza entered the McDonald's drive-thru Saturday night in a black Porsche, then briefly stepped out and publicly urinated. Ravizza moved up to the drive-thru window and became argumentative with a male employee. Ravizza allegedly lunged out the window of the car and stabbed the worker in the forearm with what appeared to be a long kitchen knife, the prosecutor said.
The employee said that Ravizza ordered food and yelled at him to “check the bag,” before paying for it, according to a police affidavit. The employee removed the items and put them back in the bag. He said Ravizza attempted to grab the bag, and then as the employee pulled it back, Ravizza took out a knife and stabbed him.
The prosecutor said Ravizza then parked his car, entered the McDonald's, and went behind the counter. Ravizza then allegedly stabbed a female employee in the back of her upper left arm. Both workers were taken to hospitals and are in stable condition.
Ravizza was apprehended following a police pursuit into the Cape Cod town of Sandwich. Ravizza crashed and the car became engulfed in flames, the prosecutor said.
In Braintree, police 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 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. The four girls were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
Video footage showed the suspect’s vehicle and a license plate, and that information was broadcast to law enforcement, police said.
A vehicle matching that description was later seen in Plymouth, about 27 miles (45 kilometers) south of Braintree. Police said it had left the McDonald's, where the 21-year-old woman and the 29-year-old man were stabbed.
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 their father, according to court records, The Boston Globe reported.
Ravizza’s father told officers that Ravizza “had just had a mental break and attacked him” inside his home, according to the police report. Email and phone messages seeking comment were left with Ravizza's father on Tuesday.
The newspaper reported that 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.