65-Year-Old Woman Fatally Stabbed at Florida Bookstore

A 65-year-old woman was fatally stabbed in the back at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on Monday evening, leaving authorities to investigate a seemingly random act of violence just days before Christmas.

Rita Loncharich was reading a magazine inside the store at 11380 Legacy Avenue around 7:53 p.m. when Antonio Moore, 40, approached her from behind and stabbed her with a fixed-blade knife, according to a probable cause affidavit. Loncharich, who had no prior interaction with Moore, managed to call her husband, Stuart, from her cell phone and told him she had been stabbed. "He stabbed me," she said, expressing shock over the attack, the affidavit states. Officers arrived shortly before 8 p.m. following reports of the stabbing and found Loncharich with the knife still embedded in her back. Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue provided lifesaving efforts at the scene before transporting her to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where she was pronounced dead shortly before 9:30 p.m.

Moore fled the store immediately after the assault, running into nearby woods, as captured on surveillance footage. Witnesses provided a description of the suspect,...