Authorities said Saturday that they had arrested a person on suspicion of stabbing four girls, ages 9 to 17, at a movie theater in Massachusetts before what seemed to be a related stabbing at a fast food place.
“It looks like the crimes are connected,” Braintree Police said. The two attacks happened about an hour apart in two different towns.
Braintree Police said in a news release that the four girls were stabbed in an AMC theater around 6 p.m. on Saturday without notice.
“He attacked and stabbed the four young women out of the blue, without saying a word or giving any warning.” Police said, “The attack seemed to have been random.” “The man ran out of the theater and got into a car after the attack.”
The girls were hurt and were taken to hospitals in Boston to get better. Authorities say all four victims are likely to live.
The attacker had left the theater in what looked like a black SUV, and police were able to get a picture of its license plate, according to the report. Assaults similar to this one were recorded in Plymouth, which is about 30 minutes south of Braintree, by a car that matched the description.
A news statement from the Massachusetts State Police says that about an hour after the first attack, police were called to a McDonald’s in Plymouth for a report of a stabbing. Three people were stabbed: a woman, 21, and a man, 29. They were taken to hospitals in the area with injuries that were not life-threatening.
“Preliminary investigation suggests a likely connection to an earlier incident at a movie theater in Braintree that left four teens with non-life-threatening injuries,” state police said.
The Massachusetts State Police chased the car until it crashed in Sandwich, which is about a 25-minute drive south of Plymouth.
State police say the suspect, who has not been named, is being treated at a hospital in the area. The state and local police are still “actively and ongoingly” looking into the case, the report said.
An AMC worker told CNN that the theater was locked down soon after the event.
