The 26-year-old man who allegedly stabbed four girls at an AMC theater in Massachusetts on Saturday was “laughing the whole time” during the attack, the mother of three of the victims said in a new interview with CBS affiliate WBZ-TV.
“They had just sat down, they had just got their concessions. I guess he came up behind them. They were in like the second row,” said Lisa Dembowski, who added that 17-year-old daughter and 9-year-old twins and their friend were alone in the auditorium at the time.
“My oldest was leaned over to get something, he got her in the back. My other daughter in the chest. My last daughter across her arm,” Dembowski, who has a 17-year-old and 9-year-old twins, continued. The attacker was “laughing the whole time. Then [he stabbed] their friend and ran off. The two older girls chased him outside, then they realized what was going on.”
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The suspect was later identified as Jared Ravizza—a resident of Chilmark, on Martha’s Vineyard—who reportedly serves as CEO of his own marketing firm. He was arrested on Saturday. The four AMC victims are expected to recover from their injuries.
An AMC staffer previously said the attacker was wearing “an oversized trench coat, sunglasses, and a long blonde wig,” though it isn’t clear whether the blond hair was actually natural.
Ravizza is accused of carrying out a string of attacks over the weekend. According to the Vineyard Gazette, he was taken into custody Saturday night “after he crashed a Porsche while fleeing police.” Earlier that evening, he allegedly stopped at a McDonald’s drive-thru, “reached through the window and grabbed the 28 year-old man working there” before stabbing him. He then allegedly went inside and stabbed “a 21 year-old woman working there.” The victims were transported to the hospital for treatment.
“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,” the police said.
The Vineyard Gazette reported that Ravizza’s arraignment is slated for Tuesday. He was hospitalized after Saturday’s Porsche crash but has since been released and is being held without bail. He is expected to be charged with “assault with intent to murder and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for the Plymouth incidents.”
WBZ-TV further reported that Ravizza is “is believed to be connected to a murder in Deep River, Connecticut.”
Dembowski, who works as a guidance counselor, said she wants the attacker to be held accountable. “I hope he gets what he deserves,” she said. “I understand mental health. I’m a counselor. I understand it. I think it’s a pretty sick individual to harm children.”
She said her children were shocked and petrified by the ordeal. “They don’t want to go to the movies ever again,” she said. “Kids are resilient. But I think they are terrified that they could just go to a movie on a Saturday night, and this could happen.”
