3 dead including suspect in stabbing attacks at mall, home

TAUNTON, Mass. – Two people were killed in stabbing attacks at a home and a shopping mall in Massachusetts before an off-duty law enforcement officer shot and killed the suspect, authorities said.

Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III said late Tuesday that Arthur DaRosa, 28, of Taunton, crashed a car outside a home in the city, walked inside and stabbed an 80-year-old woman and another woman. The 80-year-old was taken to a hospital, where she later died. The other woman was being treated for life-threatening injuries.

DaRosa then drove to the Silver City Galleria mall and crashed a car through the front of a Macy’s store, Quinn said. He assaulted multiple people inside the store before running to a Bertucci’s restaurant and stabbing two people, including a 56-year-old man who later died. An off-duty deputy sheriff intervened at the restaurant and shot DaRosa dead, Quinn said.

A motive for the attacks remains under investigation, but state police said they have found no evidence of a connection to terrorism.

“There is no continuing threat to the public,” said Dave Procopio, a state police spokesman.

Justin Pizarro, 19, told The Boston Globe that he was working at a store in the mall at the time of the stabbings. He told the newspaper that a security guard told him to close the gate of his store.