A Greenbelt woman was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and is being held without bond after being charged with stabbing two women and attempting to stab a third woman at Westfield Shoppingtown Montgomery, the shopping center formerly known as Montgomery Mall.
Antoinette C. Starks, 38, is charged with three counts of attempted second-degree murder, three counts of first-degree assault, three counts of reckless endangerment, and seven other charges after being arrested May 25.
At approximately 6:30 p.m. Montgomery County’s emergency call center began receiving panicked calls from shoppers at Nordstom saying that a woman was stabbing people at random, according to court documents.
According to the court documents and police, Starks stabbed a woman near the customer service counter on the third floor of the store, then got on the escalator to the second floor, stabbed a second woman, and began to chase a third woman, who escaped without injury.
Adam Karcher, an off-duty FBI agent based in Philadelphia, noticed a large crowd staring at the escalator and observed part of the second stabbing. He drew his service weapon, ordered Starks to drop her weapon and took her into custody without further incident.
According to court documents, Starks had dropped two knives on the third floor and used two large butcher knives taped together at the handle to create a double-bladed weapon.
The stabbing victims are identified as Sarah Paseltiner, 25, of Bethesda and Jacqueline Greismann, 48, of Potomac. Greismann is an upper school librarian at the Bullis School in Potomac. Both were transported to local hospitals with serious injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
Counselors were on hand at Bullis following the incident. Officials at the school could not be reached for comment.
The third victim, Sheida Shahndeh, 21, was chased by Starks and was transported to Suburban Hospital after suffering an asthma attack brought on by the event.
Derek Baliles, a Montgomery County Police spokesman said the crimes appear to have been random.
“Pretty much everyone is very consistent with the fact that it was unprovoked and a surprise. It just began all of a sudden and they don’t know why it began,” Baliles said. “The victims tell us they do not know [Starks].”
Still, the fact that Starks was carrying knives, including the two butcher knives taped together to make a double-edged weapon, suggest that the crime was in some ways planned, police said.
"That would show some preplanning or at least some preparation prior to this," said Baliles. "Something is still not known at this time."
In 2003, Starks was convicted of seven counts of malicious destruction of property for spray-painting the phrase “David is a Bitch” on buildings and vehicles in Rockville and sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
“It was not right for the complaintants to say I sprayed their property when none of them have seen me on their property. Just going by what you think or believe or wish is not proff [sic],” Starks said in a handwritten note appealing the sentence.
In 1999, Starks was charged with theft under $300 for stealing shoes from TJ Maxx in Rockville, but the state decided not to prosecute the charges.
Starks had been released from the prison just days before the May 25 stabbing.
Following the psychiatric evaluation, she will have a bail review June 3 and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing June 24.