Arthur DaRosa drove his car into a home and stabbed two women in Massachusetts Tuesday before driving to a mall, cops say.
A Massachusetts stabbing spree left an 80-year-old woman and 56-year-old man dead on Tuesday in what family members of the suspect say was the senseless act of a man at war with his own demons.
According police, a suspect later identified as Arthur DaRosa first crashed his car outside a Taunton home on Tuesday. Police say he entered the home, where he stabbed a woman and her daughter.
Both women were transported to a hospital, where one of the women succumbed to her injuries. She was 80 years old. The second woman is being treated for life threatening injuries at this time.
Mass. mayor on deadly mall stabbing: "Tragedy has certainly hit the city of Taunton hard…" https://t.co/cP1KtaLpE3https://t.co/qeBBzwvHsz
— ABC News (@ABC) May 11, 2016
DaRosa got back behind the wheel and drove to the Silver City Galleria mall, where he crashed the vehicle into the entrance of a Macy's.
Read: Accused Killer Seen Dragging Random Victim's Body in Horrifying Surveillance Footage: Cops
"He then exited the vehicle, assaulted multiple people inside Macy's before making his way on foot to Bertucci's Italian restaurant," said Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III.
DaRosa then armed himself with a knife and stabbed two people, one of whom was a 56-year-old man who is now dead.
Three other individuals were assaulted--but not stabbed--at Macy’s, according to Quinn.
The stabbing spree came to an end when an off-duty police officer shot and killed DaRosa.
On Wednesday, DaRosa's sister Kerri Devries told the Boston Herald that her brother had a history of mental illness and that the "devil was playing tricks on him."
Read: At Least One Is Dead and Several Injured After Shootings, Stabbing at Motorcycle Expo
The day before the attacks, DaRosa had been hospitalized for depression.
"He told them how depressed he was and how he didn’t want to live anymore and they still let him leave," Devries said.
While Devries expressed condolences for the families of the victims, she told the Boston Herald her brother was a sick man.
"I feel so sorry for those families and what happened, but he’s not completely to blame, he was sick,” she said. “He’s been talking about suicide for the past week. My brother was always a loving person and anybody who knows him knows that .... That wasn’t him. He wanted help."
Watch: EMT Proposes to a Woman He Rescued After Being Stabbed 32 Times
