Updated May 30
Jared Ravizza, the Vineyard man accused of a stabbing spree Saturday on the South Shore, had a simple answer when asked why he later led state troopers on a high speed chase that ended in a fiery crash of his SUV.
Rushed to the South Shore Hospital in an ambulance, Ravizza told an emergency room nurse that “he wanted to have fun tonight, and he was running from the police because he wanted to have some fun.”
Those details and others emerged in police reports and court records released this week in a bizarre case that has transfixed many on the Vineyard, where Ravizza, 26, lived since about 2021.
He now faces 14 criminal charges as officials accused him of wounding six people with a knife in two seemingly random attacks on the South Shore, set an arraignment date for him in Edgartown for allegedly attacking his father, and identified him as the focus of a homicide investigation in Connecticut.
While in the emergency room, Ravizza told the attending physician, Dr. Wayne Chin, that his 2018 Porsche Macan topped out at 150 miles per hour during the chase, according to the police report.
But Ravizza said he quickly lost control of the speeding vehicle and claimed that it rolled six times before coming to a stop.
Police did not confirm Ravizza’s speed or say how many times the Porsche flipped on Cotuit Road in Sandwich. News photos show firefighters spraying the wreck, which was shattered in the front and rear. One wheel was splayed out to the side.
Dr. Chin said Ravizza suffered only “superficial scratches” in the crash, but that doctors had to remove four taser probes that police fired at him before he was taken into custody.
Trooper Daniel Shea and Braintree police detective James Lindelof entered the emergency room several hours later and found Ravizza wearing a neck brace and lying in a hospital bed. After Lindelof read him his Miranda Rights, which advise a suspect of the right to remain silent and to have access to a lawyer, Ravizza refused to speak to them.
Ravizza similarly remained silent during two separate hearings Tuesday when he was arraigned in Plymouth District Court for allegedly using a kitchen knife to slash two employees of a nearby McDonald’s restaurant on Route 3 in Braintree. His lawyers filed a plea of not guilty in the case.
One of the victims, Eliamny Garcia, had only arrived in the United States early last week and Saturday, when the attack occurred, was her first day at work. She was midway through her 8 am to 7 pm shift at the McDonald’s when she heard “a commotion” coming from the drive-through window, she told police in Spanish.
Moments later, she told police, she saw Ravizza enter the front door. She said he looked like “a homeless person,” with shaggy, shoulder-length blond hair and no shirt.
It was then that she noticed he was carrying a knife that looked about nine-inches long.
“Ms. Garcia stated that the suspect was holding the knife above his head and she saw him start to run or walk quickly towards her,” the police report said. When she retreated, “she was stabbed by the suspect near the potato machine… She put her hands and arms up in a defensive posture and the suspect stabbed her in a diagonal north to south motion.”
Police later applied a tourniquet to her arm to stop the bleeding, and an ambulance took her to a nearby hospital.
Shortly before Garcia was attacked, according to the restaurant’s video surveillance, Ravizza drove up to the drive-through window in his Porsche and ordered two double cheeseburgers, a small order of French Fries, and a McFlurry through the speaker.
Igor Marques, 29, was shift commander at the restaurant. Dressed in a yellow vest, he handed the bag of food through the window but the driver “yelled at him” and said he would not pay for the food unless the order was correct, he told police.
When Marques checked the bag, and then replaced the contents, “Ravizza pulled out a knife… then plunged it at him” in a downward motion that hit his left arm, Marques said. Ravizza then grabbed the brown paper bag and pulled away from the window.
Marques told police that Ravizza “looked like a man and a woman at the same time, had long blond hair, pink fingernails and… looked stressed.”
Another witness, Dorrie Young, described Ravizza as “appearing like a 1970s rock star” because of his bare chest, long blond hair and “wild” colored, baggy pants. She noticed him outside the restaurant urinating.
“Young stated that she was startled, surprised and taken off guard by this” as she saw his private parts, she told police. She said Ravizza “had a ‘big expression’ on his face, which she later described to be akin to Jack Nicholson’s expression in The Shining.”
Ravizza is now in custody and undergoing psychiatric evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital, a medium-security facility for male patients that is surrounded by high fences and multiple coils of barbed wire.
A court-approved forensic psychologist, Dr. Kimberly Bistis, told Plymouth County District Court Judge Shelby Smith that Ravizza suffers from an “active psychotic illness.” She said he has “serious delusions” that his family is involved with the Mafia, and that he believed he was controlled by “outside forces.”
Dr. Bistis said Ravizza did not have the mental capacity to work with his attorney. Smith ordered him held without bail at Bridgewater until the next hearing, on June 17.
In recent years, Ravizza posted photos of himself online at Aquinnah beaches, behind the wheel of his Porsche in Chilmark, and with a poodle at Edgartown’s historic Dr. Daniel Fisher House.
But many details of his Island life remained murky. He legally changed his name twice in the past two years, and was arrested in West Tisbury in April for allegedly assaulting his father and destroying property. He is due to be arraigned on those charges on July 22.
Ravizza variously claimed to be a male model, a professional skier, a philanthropist, and the founder of a digital marketing company called Ravizza Jones. The company was only registered this January to his father’s address in West Tisbury, according to state records.
His father, Jason Ravizza, a sports psychologist, lived at the house at the time, but does not own it. A man answering his cell phone hung up when an MV Times reporter called on Wednesday. Two phone numbers for Jared Ravizza have been disconnected.
Ravizza used other addresses after his arrest Saturday. He told police in Plymouth, after the McDonald’s attack, that his home was in Agawam, near Springfield, where he grew up and went to high school.
A separate criminal complaint in Quincy District Court, where Ravizza has been charged with stabbing four girls at an AMC movie theater, shows his address as 4 State Road in Chilmark — the address of the U.S. Post Office. He does not even have a Post Office box there.
Connecticut State Police are separately investigating Ravizza in connection with the death of a 70-year-old man in Deep River, a small town in the southern part of the state. The body of Bruce Feldman was found outside a house Saturday afternoon after police responded to a report of an “audible disturbance.”
Connecticut State Police classified the case as an active homicide investigation, and said criminal charges are “pending” while Ravizza is in custody in Massachusetts.
In a statement, the police said Ravizza and his car were seen at the house earlier in the day, and he apparently had thrown a shovel through a window. “Personal items belonging to Ravizza were located at the scene, and witnesses provided a description consistent with that of Ravizza,” the police said.
MV Times staff writer Eunki Seonwoo reported from Plymouth. Times staff writer Hayley Duffy also contributed to this story.
Thank goodness it’s hard to get a gun in this state
Al, I see where you are going with your logic but it doesn’t add up. This despicable human traveled a lot. They easily could have gotten a gun in their travels if that was how they wanted this clearly premeditated crime to go down. They had money and a very nice car. They could have bought a gun on the black market in Mass, illegally lied to get a “legal” gun in another state or just mowed down a crowd of people with their automobile; all done easier than getting a legal gun the legitimate way in Mass. So your assertion that they would have had a gun if they wanted a gun is misleading at best.
What I will say as a counter point to your assertion is that it’s a shame someone else didn’t have a legal gun to have stopped this despicable human in his tracks when he first made it clear he was going to stab those girls. This is a perfect scenario to ask “where was a good guy with a gun when they were needed most?” And BTW, last time I checked approximately 25% of households in Mass do own a firearm so don’t kid yourself about the availability of guns in Mass.
When the police know mental health issues are at the bottom of this but the MVHospital’s mental health (un)professional determines there’s not enough evidence for an involuntary hold, we have the problem. It’s a dangerous problem, a disaster-in-waiting.
The problem is the hospital does not have a locked unit for dangerous or extremely mentally ill patients. It’s too much of a problem and expense to send these ill patients off island to a facility that can manage, stabilize, and help these people— and prevent them from hurting themselves and others. What was the father supposed to do for his son? There’s nothing for a family to do but call the police when a loved one becomes violent. It’s not like you can “sober up” from hearing voices.
That said, most people with mental illness are not violent or dangerous, except perhaps to themselves. The island repeatedly fails those without their mental heath. The police do the best they can but their hands are tied by stupid, outdated, and harmful laws. Perhaps if this sick person got the treatment they needed, even if it was involuntary, there would have been no stabbings. Horrible story that makes the island look to be at fault for underserving those who need help and can’t get it. And no, talking therapy is not the first line of treatment for someone who hears voices. You can’t expect the general population to be educated on medical treatments for any kind of illness, but that doesn’t stop the uneducated from giving incorrect information based not on fact, but on their own ignorance of mental heath.
Like the acceptance of antisemitic views these days, mental illness is the only disease I can think of where it’s fair game to belittle, mock, and have zero compassion for the sick person and those who love them. Imagine if everyone with cancer or brain tumors was spoken about with ignorance and no compassion.
I hope the traumatized victims of the attacks make full recoveries, physically and emotionally.
I believe the Island is not unique in not being equipped for treating emergency mental health needs. It is a nation-wide health crisis.
Even when there is not an available bed, ERs have a way to hold patients safely until there is transportation to an in-patient, psychiatric locked unit. When someone threatens to harm themself or anyone else, or actually does, it is irresponsible for a medical facility to release them. In this situation, I can’t imagine MVH released this man. There’s no excuse. Sometimes it requires an armed guard to keep the patient secure in an emergency room until a transport is available. Most of us know someone, love someone, or have visited someone in a psychiatric unit of a hospital. Police did the right thing, the hospital did not. Don’t make excuses. The police sometimes have to lock up the person in jail to keep everyone safe— when the medical system fails as they did in this case. The island is unique because psych patients cannot easily be transported to a locked facility that can treat them. The island underserves those who require psychiatric care. That’s a serious lesson to learn- especially for the victims who were injured and are scarred for life.
So let’s say that some hypothetical person
constantly rails against
a certain group or groups of people.On social media
and local publications.
Liberals and democrats for example.
The hypothetical person repeatedly post
delusional statements with no basis in fact,
asserting that they are all anti-semites .
Calling a group of people or an individual an
anti-semite is quite a derogatory slur.
Clearly no rational person would believe such a widespread
biased belief.
Anti Semitism is not a label
to throw around lightly and the concept of it offends
most decent people.
A rational person might actually think that
this may be symptomatic of some kind of underlying mental illness
and that the obviously hateful rhetoric may someday
manifest itself in a violent act at some point in the future.
Or perhaps incite others to violence.
Are we , as a society obligated to attempt to
prevent “future crimes” ? Or at least get people to take
drugs that may help them ?
Where do we draw the lines ? How do we draw the lines ?
We see it time and again that there are warning signs,
but they are clearer in hindsight.
It is unfortunate that as a society, we do not prioritize
treatment for the mental ill. Indeed, it is difficult to even define
it.
What the heck does this story have to do with antisemitism?
Jackie, thank you for comment. Have you ever noticed that those who are often offended the most use the most offensive language when describing those who don’t go along with their ideology? If you are a Trump supporter you are called vile things from liberals but don’t you dare hurt their feelings by calling them names. That’s the the problem with liberals they lead with their feelings and not their minds.
Carl– I don’t support trump– I have been repeatedly referred to as an anti-semite. Most of the time is is obliquely. One particular person here constantly slanders liberals and democrats and calls them all anti semites. Let me ask– which is worse to be called– an anti-semite or a racist? I think it is clear that anti semitic opinions have caused as much damage as racist beliefs have. But I certainly can’t sit here and call anyone a racit. Even though there are clearly a lot of them on this site, and they are mostly trump supporters. Some people here can say that liberals and democrats are anti semites– I will take offense to that just as you likely will when I say that conservatives and trump supporters are racists. I get sick of the right whining about being “cancelled”. It’s total BS — Let’s see if your feelings get hurt, or if I will get canceled.
Ok– Just the facts:
Liberals are anti-semites, according to some
conservatives — especially “MAGA maggots” are racist according so some. Oh– some people don’t like the term “maggot”
Somebody should tell trump to not refer to Maggie Haberman
as “Maggot Haberman”.
We have different points of view.
I certainly hope that because I personally think that 90 % of
trump supporters are racist, the whiny snowflakes don’t
get their feelings hurt and melt.
And for those who think 90% of liberals are anti semites,
or socialist, or communist or whatever else they have been
calling us for years,
We’re used to being bashed by ignorant liars.
don’t worry about us–
You don’t have to be liberal to not
support trump. Trump said if he is
elected he will end the war in Ukraine
on day one. Trump said he thinks
Putin is a good guy. Does that give
an indication what would happen to
Ukraine? Putin has hinted that he would
like to invade Poland and Finland next.
If Trump were to “end the war in
Ukraine on day one,” it would upset
the balance of power on the entire
planet. Trump’s “bull in a china shop”
mentality isn’t diplomatic. We need
diplomatic solutions to problems on the
planet. Trump isn’t capable of finessing
world politics to help ordinary people.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-ally-warns-enemy-poland-you-risk-losing-your-statehood-2023-11-02/
https://www.rferl.org/amp/russia-putin-finland-nato-border-closure/32734153.html
Trump is receiving campaign
contributions from oil billionaires.
The oil industry is trying to protect
the enormous revenues they receive
from each family on the planet. This
election is about preserving fossil fuel
wealth for the oligarchs, plain and simple.
Don, I think you are confusing people on the right calling out hypocrisy as being offended. I could care less what people call me but when liberals call people bigots and racist and throw the race card around while being bigots racist and yes anti semites they have to be called out. It’s not whining it’s trying to get liberals to look in the mirror. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks” – William Shakespeare.
You admitted to painting 90% of Trump supporters racist without having any facts to back it up. You and many other liberals feelings are hurt because you don’t understand how anyone can support Trump. And when conservatives point out how much better this country was under Biden they are called racist. You do it all the time. You just did it. And you can’t let it go. You can’t comment without mentioning Trump or trying to defend your comments that some think are antisemitic. Clearly your feelings are in fact hurt. If it were me I wouldn’t care as I stand by my comments and wear them proudly. If I’m wrong I’ll admit it. But at the end of the day I’ll move on.
Jackie– Your first 3 paragraphs were right on the money.
Particularly the part about the uneducated giving
incorrect information based not on fact, but on their own ignorance.
And then you went there….
Beloved community members. We May or May not be in denial about reasons to be careful on Island. Aside from this occurrence, there was an incident in OB also. A Human attempted brake stands and burn outs on Circuit Ave., just as the Ritz was letting out at 1:45 AM. A court summons was issued for negligent operation. At 4:42 AM, the same vehicle blew through the stop sign at the Edg. Rd./ County Rd. intersection and crashed into the woods across the road. We also know of illegal fire arms being seized, and lost firearms. There are also many Humans riding electric vehicles every which way on one ways roads, bike paths and sidewalks and disregarding motor vehicle signage. Please be aware of your surroundings and not be distracted by your phone when you are on the sidewalks, cross the street or drive. Love, Shell
Thank you Shelly for this.
Shelly– you don’t have to have an electric “vehicle” to
ride the wrong way on the road ( always ride with traffic)
or do stupid stuff on the bike path, and ignore motor vehicle
signage
By the way, in town, it is illegal — with good reason–
to ride a bicycle or a “scooter” on the sidewalk.
Electric or not. Police take notice—-
And just a question— Was the vehicle you cite in
your comment an EV or was it a gas or diesel powered vehicle ?
My understanding of how electrical vehicles work, is that you
can’t do a brake stand and melt your tires. It’s actually pretty
hard on a dry road to spin your tires at all with an EV.
And good advice from you about not being distracted.
Thanks
It is really quite tragic that this young seasonal resident from an obviously wealthy background can go about commiting violence and frothing from the mouth with probable cause in the weeks before the attack and not be “red flagged” while a working class year-round islander can be arrested and detained for months based on nothing more than a Facebook post (and no probable cause). I wonder how many more bad seeds like him linger up island, swaddled in the obscurity afforded to the rich.
Perhaps he was just: “being there, being a mentor.”
This suspects father Jason Christian Rivizza is a mental health counselor. Milo Silva has a strong statement above. Why didn’t JCR “red flag” his son? Did he provide the counseling and drugs to care for his son?
The family tried to get him help and admitted someplace but he is an adult and he was able to check himself out.
Professionals do not counsel family members.
Should Jason be arrested for his son’s behavior?
The police/investigator should ask Jason if he did counsel or prescribe drugs for his son? They could easily read his prescription bottles to determine the doctor’s name. From the previous MV article, Jared has been delusionaL and mentally ill for years. He was driving an expensive car at the time of the accident. Did someone enable him to pursue his illness? Did someone conceal his actions to protect their career?
MV doctors and nurses tend to prescribe mind-altering and addictive pharmaceuticals without an evaluation or diagnosis, or even a follow up visit.
Outrageously untrue. Conspiracy theory, anti vaxers spread these kinds of lies, and coincidentally often prescribe their own versions of untrained “healthcare” which include woo-woo, hum-hum, singing bowl therapies—which are entirely worthless to treat bipolar or schizophrenia. Yoga is great but it obviously didn’t help this very sick man. Many cancer treatments are toxic and have awful side effects, but they can buy time for the patient with their loved ones.
What the heck does this story have to do with “anti-vaxxers”?
Columbo knows. That’s why she’s not following up on her lie.
I’d like to know why anyone would object to me noticing previous “anti-vaccination” blather rather than address this current damaging lie about doctors illegally and immorally prescribing medication to undiagnosed islanders? It’s simply untrue. It’s disturbing to ignore Colombo’s lie, unless one is hypothetically just another antivaxxer who thinks medical science is all baloney. Have you seen what Republicans are trying to do to Dr Fauci… a real medical doctor?
Colombo is not a medical doctor.
I’m an old lady, but my memory is still pretty good. I tend to remember the anti-vaxxers, the antisemites, and all the rest of the dehumanizing haters— including those who don’t speak up when they should and those who should remain quiet and hope the rest of forget what they’ve already written here.
That is not true.
Yes there is no holding area in the hospital for prisoners or mental health patients if supervision (depending on safety) is needed.
Pampered, spoiled rich kid grows into a pampered spoiled adult. Probably never worked one day in his life. Simply a bored sluggard with “too much time on his hands.”
““Girls just want to have fun.” Is society responsible for every idler or newcomer?
Idiotic comment. Try educating yourself.
The hospital protocol for holding someone is archaic. The patient has to admit they are suicidal, or they are released. Most disturbed people don’t admit they going to do harm to themselves or others. That rule needs to change.
“And then you went there.”
THERE is where I live. This upsets antisemites who imagine they are in charge of others’ insights and opinions— or at least get to determine the validity of truth.
People who stand for nothing, who have no goal or focus or clarity, and who are unable to think things through for the long term, can become obsessed with those who stand firm on the topics they happen to know about. Everything is connected, except for those who cannot think for themselves. I don’t look for the approval of antisemitic fools, ever, but one must have zero self-awareness to try to engage with me with their hatred and ignorance regardless.
The proverbial “good guy with a gun
People often try to get me to question myself on why I legally conceal carry everyday.
Why would I do that on my monthly trip to New Bedford?
Why not leave it at home when going around on island?
Why take it to the beach?
Why carry to a friend’s son’s 4th birthday in their backyard?
Why would you burden yourself with having/needing lethal protection everywhere you go?
Stop asking me this and stop trying to make me second guess myself!
The answer is look at you right in the face at the top of this article. Thank you, conversation over.
Someone legally carrying a gun at the movie theater may have stopped him from stabbing 6 people…….
Bill– good points– I couldn’t agree with you more about
your right to carry, and you have your reasons. I will certainly
not second guess you about your motivations.
But I hope that if you ever start hearing voices or have thoughts
about murdering people, I trust that you would relinquish your
gun. I think people like you are actually an asset to our society
and a good guy with a gun is a good thing. We just need to keep
guns out of the hands of nut cases like Ravizza, so that you don’t
have to suffer the burden and the emotional stress if you have to
use it against a bad guy. I had a friend who had to use his firearm in
self defense and to protect another person. It wasn’t a fatal shot, and
he was clearly more than justified to shoot the offender, but it really
took him through an emotional wringer.
Carry on, don’t question it, and i hope you never need to use it.
Antisemite is a word that correctly applies to any hypothetical someone who expressly hates Jews. Hating Jewish people and lying about their culture, traditions, and holidays, about which this hypothetical antisemite knows nothing, is a toxic thing to do and be. When a hypothetical antisemitic person repeats the Jew-hating lies of Hamas/Isis/Nazis, and accuses a Jewish person of all kinds of antisemitic lies, including blood libels and hating all Arabs, this kind of acting out, in a public forum, tells people that the antisemite has anger issues at having his Jew hatred so publicly exposed, especially if a Jew spelled it out. A hypothetical antisemite who has been openly exposed and recognized for it, is so humiliated and enraged that he can go on to lie and accuse a Jewish person of calling everyone an antisemite if they should express any opinion differing from the Jewish or Israeli perspective. An antisemite is not ashamed of his Jew hatred; he is enraged that he is exposed. He will cry he is a victim of a Jewish person’s hatred of “anyone who isn’t Jewish”. That’s calling gaslighting.
If I were to write an essay on “How to make a fool of yourself”, I would use a hypothetical Jew hater who cannot control himself. I’m no shrink, but I believe this kind of exposed antisemitism brings out a kind of narcissistic rage in the hypothetical antisemite. They are toxic and should be avoided. But decent people must call out the antisemitic lies as the ugly, hateful, and damaging lies. Saying nothing promotes more Jew hatred, as if there isn’t enough these days.
Instead of repeating the same awful details and mug shot, how about an article on red flags of mental illness? What signals a break with reality? When to take action? What actions are there when you suspect a loved one is in trouble? What medications are used? Can a person with schizophrenia under proper medical care live a relatively normal life?
It would be helpful to have this information provided since the ignorance and cruelty toward the mentally ill and their families are shocking.
Don Keller: Please read my comment again. I did not say the vehicle doing burn outs on Circuit was electric. The reference to electric vehicles was in a completely different part of the comment. Thank you.
Shelly– I simply asked you if it was electric. You mentioned electric
“vehicles” immediately after your comment about the idiot
in the car. Again, you brought up noteworthy points about
riding scooters ,bicycles, etc. Thank you.
Bill, just curious if you ever had to defend your family (or friends) with your concealed carry?
Well, this story obviously is about antisemitism and anti=vaxxers after all!
((;-))
:-)!!
Heartbreaking for all involved. Grew up with Jason (1st cousin), my heart goes out to him and the other families involved.
The 2nd amendment is a self defense right of all Americans. Concealed carry gun owners are licensed, well educated to operate a gun and know the legal requirements. Concealed carry owners have fulfilled their legal obligations to earn this right. Criminals, aliens, etc. do not have this right. These DEI prosecutors must enforce the laws.
Comments are closed.