Mother of victims speaks – NBC Boston

The mother of three girls who were stabbed to death along with their friend in a movie theater in Braintree, Massachusetts on Saturday is speaking out about the horrific night and the “sick” person who hurt them.

This whole experience was an absolute nightmare for Lisa Dembowski, who says all three of her daughters and her friend were randomly stabbed at the AMC Braintree 10 just after 6 p.m. on Saturday while watching the movie “If.” She says she got the call from her sister that she needed to get to the theater immediately because her children had been stabbed. She rushed there and was stunned by what she saw when police escorted her inside.

“The theater was still open and people were buying tickets and it was like, I don’t know. It was crazy to me that this was still happening,” she recalled to NBC10 Boston on Sunday.

Dembowski said she saw her three daughters immediately, but her friend had already been taken to the hospital. The girls, all between the ages of 9 and 17, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.

Investigators say 26-year-old Jared Ravizza of Martha’s Vineyard entered the movie theater without paying and then attacked the girls without saying a word or warning.

A man is said to have stabbed several girls ages 9 to 17 in a Massachusetts movie theater before leading police on a chase to Cape Cod.

Dembowski says her girls and her friend were the only ones in the house when Ravizza approached them from behind.

“My eldest leaned over to pick something up. He grabbed her from behind and then my other daughter up by the chest and then my last daughter by the arm, laughing the whole time and then he grabbed her friend and ran,” she revealed.

According to Massachusetts State Police, Ravizza fled the movie theater and then went to the rest stop on Route 3 in Plymouth, where he allegedly stabbed two McDonald’s employees around 7 p.m.

The Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office said Sunday that Ravizza reached through the McDonald’s drive-thru and stabbed a 28-year-old man with a large knife. He then allegedly parked his black Porsche, got in the car and stabbed a 21-year-old woman before leaving the rest area in his SUV. The man was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess-Plymouth Hospital, while the woman was taken to South Shore Hospital; both sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Detectives reviewed surveillance video from the McDonald’s and learned that a wanted notice had been issued in connection with Ravizza’s arrest in other cases.

A description of the suspect’s vehicle helped state police troopers locate it in Sandwich. Troopers attempted to pull over the SUV, but Ravizza did not stop, leading police on a chase that ended in a violent crash, state police said.

Prosecutors said Ravizza was arrested and taken into custody in Sandwich around 7:15 p.m. Ravizza is currently at South Shore Hospital, where he is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Multiple sources tell NBC10 that Ravizza allegedly began this series of violent crimes hours earlier in Deep River, Connecticut, where they say he is a suspect in a death investigation.

Dembowski says she is relieved that Ravizza is in custody.

“I think that a person who harms children is a pretty sick person,” she said. “I hope he gets what he deserves.”

For now, Dembowski, a high school counselor, is focused on helping her daughters and her friend overcome this nightmare psychologically.

“I think the two younger ones are coping a little better with it. The older one is very protective and just worries more about them and how they’re going to turn out.”

Dembowski calls her eldest daughter and her friends heroes for calming the little ones. She says they were the ones who called the police for help.

NBC10 Boston reached out to the theater for comment but did not receive a response.

Ravizza is expected to appear in Plymouth District Court on Tuesday to face several charges, including assault with intent to murder. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

The state and local police investigations are currently ongoing.