Man accused of rampage with syringe in Beverly held without bail

A man is being held without bail after allegedly going on a rampage with a syringe in Beverly's Cummings Center.

The first victim spoke to Boston 25 News at her home in Lynn, and said she had just driven with one of her two sons from her home to meet other family members for a birthday celebration.

The celebration then turned into chaos, before she could even take her keys out of the ignition.

"It happened in just no time," Diane James said. "It's like the blood drained out of me, and I was just, 'What's happening here?"

The helpless feeling James felt was a terror she said instantly took over her body.

"Everybody can say, 'You should've done this, you should've done that,'" James said. "In the moment, you don't know what to do."

James and her son were parked outside Acapulco's Restaurant in Beverly's Cummings Center on Saturday night when a stranger appeared in the driver's side window and demanded that she get out of the car.

"That's when he put the needle in at me," James said. "Then he pulled my door open and pulled me out. He just didn't have an expression, you just knew he meant business. I just stood there screaming. What else can I do? I was just trapped."

James' son then leaped over the driver's seat from the passenger seat to save her from being stabbed with the syringe.

Her second son had just pulled up in another car, and also rushed to James' rescue.

"The two of them weren't stopping until they caught him," James said.

Police say the suspect with the syringe, later identified as 31-year-old Stoneham native Matthew Rich, wasn't willing to surrender.

Investigators say he allegedly went on to point the needle at nearly everyone he crossed paths with, all while being chased.

He then broke into a car, where the situation turned helpless for him.

"It was just lucky that my other son showed up when he did," James said. "It was crazy."

Police say Rich was trying to hot wire the car he had broken into, but before he could get it started, officers swarmed the scene.

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His arraignment on a lengthy list of charges, including four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and three counts of armed carjacking, was continued to next week.

Prosecutors expect more charges will be tacked onto the case, with four allegedly stolen debit cards reportedly found in his wallet.

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