Man charged in ‘random and unprovoked’ stabbing of teenage girl at Dollar Tree store

On By Pranco

A teenage girl was stabbed in the back Thursday while standing next to her mother at a Hyannis store in what Barnstable police said was a “random and unprovoked” attack.

Nikolas Rescigno of Hyannis.BARN POLICE

Nikolas Rescigno, 31, of Hyannis, will be arraigned Friday in Barnstable District Court on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, police said. He is also wanted for failing to appear in the same court in May when he was charged in connection with a knife incident at the Cape Cod Mall, police said.

According to police, the girl and her mother were in the foyer of the Dollar Tree Store in Hyannis around 12:38 a.m. Thursday when Rescigno walked up behind them and allegedly stabbed the girl.

“Rescigno approached the young woman from behind in the foyer of the store and without warning stabbed her in the lower back while she stood next to her mother,” police wrote in a statement on Facebook on Thursday. “Rescigno is unknown to the victim and this attack appears to be random and unprovoked.”

The girl was rushed to a local hospital for treatment of wounds that were not considered life-threatening, police said.

Witnesses told police that Rescigno “remained at the scene in the foyer and stared at the victim and eventually dropped the knife at the request of a bystander.”

He was arrested by the police on Thursday.

According to court records, Rescigno has been prosecuted in Barnstable District Court on several charges dating back to 2013. He has a history of mental illness and spent significant periods of time in state mental health hospitals between 2016 and 2018, records show.

This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.

John R. Ellement can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @JREbosglobe.