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3 Dead, Including Suspect, After Stabbing Attacks At Taunton Mall, Home

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.

The superintendent-director of Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical School identified the victim as George Heath, a visual design teacher at the school.

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.

Pizarro said he was "shaken up," but that "the security guards handled it pretty well."

Taunton is about 40 miles south of Boston.

Silver City Galleria is a regional mall offering 130 specialty stores, sit-down restaurants and a movie theater.

This article was originally published on May 10, 2016.

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