Massachusetts attacks: ‘Multiple stabbings’ at shopping mall near Boston leave two victims and suspect dead

Suspect was shot and killed by off-duty police officer, according to reports.

The stabbings suspect is put into an ambulance at Silver City Galleria mall in Taunton, Massachusetts (AP)

Two people were killed in a stabbing rampage near Boston that took place at a residence and a shopping mall, according to reports.

The suspect was also killed after being shot by an off-duty police officer at the mall. It's unclear if the two people killed were at the Silver City Galleria mall or the residence.

Taunton Fire Department dispatcher Mike Marshall said reports started coming in around 6:37 pm local time, and that the department sent out “a lot” of ambulances.

Witnesses told local television station WHDH-TV that they saw people running out of the mall and heard gunfire. The station reported that people in the area, about 40 miles south of Boston, saw police officers with guns drawn and that the mall had been evacuated and put on lockdown.

The motivation behind the attacks was unclear. Police said two people were stabbed at the mall after the assailant crashed a motor vehicle into the front of a store, Reuters reported. The other two stabbings appear to have been committed at a home a few miles from the mall.

A representative of the mall, which has 125 stores, a 12-restaurant food court, restaurants and cinema, had not spoken at the time of publication.