Stunned relative: Stabbing suspect ‘was just out of it’
Cops say man killed girlfriend
Family members celebrating a surprise birthday party at a Millis banquet hall Saturday night scrambled to tackle and tie up Benjamin Walsh when he attacked his parents, a relative said — using a knife that authorities suspect he had used to stab his girlfriend to death in their Needham apartment.
“They just grabbed him — the guys did. It was a lot of trauma. He was just out of it. He wasn’t himself. When he comes out of it and realizes what happened he’ll be devastated,” said a stunned relative, who was at the party at the Primavera restaurant and spoke to the Herald on the condition of anonymity.
The relative told the Herald a family member had risen “to say a few words” when Benjamin Walsh attacked his parents.
“People just handled it,” the relative said about how he was subdued.
Benjamin Walsh, 24, is due to be arraigned today in Wrentham District Court on multiple charges in connection with his parents’ injuries. Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey said Walsh will later face a murder charge for the killing of Olivia Bergstrom, 20, in Dedham District Court.
Michael and Laura Walsh, both 53, of Millis, are “wonderful parents — the best parents anyone could have,” the relative said. “It’s just unreal. This kind of thing happens on TV, but not in real life. It’s a tragedy.”
Michael Walsh was out of the hospital yesterday and “doing much, much better,” Morrissey said. Laura Walsh was still in serious condition at a Boston hospital.
Benjamin Walsh struggled with mental health issues and substance abuse, and was “out of his mind” when he plunged a kitchen knife into his mother’s stomach, Michael Walsh told Channel 25 after he was released from the hospital yesterday.
“It just seems like he came here on one mission,” the injured father said.
He told the station his son relied on his girlfriend for support.
“I know she’s not a person he would ever want to hurt,” he said.
Benjamin Walsh’s girlfriend was found stabbed to death in the couple’s apartment on Marshall Street in Needham when officers went to check on her after the Primavera incident.
“I think it was clear to Needham police when they arrived that she had passed away,” Morrissey said. “I will indicate to you that we have recovered a knife that is of interest to us, and that’s all I really have to say on that.”
The DA declined to say what, if any, motive was behind the attacks, but he said Benjamin Walsh was hospitalized at some point after he was arrested.
Needham police Chief John Schlittler said Benjamin Walsh and his girlfriend had lived in town only a short while “and we have not had any previous interactions with them.”
Millis police Chief Christopher Soffayer said his department has had no involvement with the Walsh family, adding, “They’ve been held in high regard throughout the community.”
Police responded to the Primavera on Pleasant Street in Millis shortly after 7 p.m. Neither Morrissey nor the relative could say for certain whether Benjamin Walsh was an invited guest.
“I’m told a number of family members were able to subdue him and tie him up after the stabbing. What they did, how they did it, I don’t have the full specifics of it,” Morrissey said.