A woman was stabbed to death in an apparently unprovoked attack as she browsed the shelves at a Barnes & Noble in Florida.
Rita Loncharich, 65, was found unresponsive and with a knife in her back inside the bookstore in Palm Beach Gardens on Monday night, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by ABC News.
Officers ‘immediately rendered aid’ at the scene and transported Loncharich to a nearby hospital, where she died from her injuries.
Her alleged killer – later identified as Antonio Moore – ran out of the store after the brutal attack, surveillance camera footage showed.
Moore, 40, was arrested in the woods near the store shortly after the stabbing and has since been booked on the charge of first-degree premeditated murder.
He allegedly admitted to stabbing Loncharich with a fixed-blade knife and claimed to have heard her say ‘he stabbed me’ before he fled.
He told police that he did not intentionally target Loncharich. She was just the ‘closest person inside the store, the affidavit stated.
Antonio Moore, 40, was arrested in the woods near the Barnes & Noble in Palm Beach Gardens
Rita Loncharich, 65, was found unresponsive and with a knife in her back inside the bookstore in Palm Beach Gardens (pictured) on Monday night
Moore allegedly admitted to stabbing Loncharich with a fixed-blade knife and claimed to have heard her say ‘he stabbed me’ before he fled off. He told police he attacked the woman without a motive
Moore arrived in Palm Beach Gardens on a bus from Georgia about a week before the attack, he told police.
He reportedly had stopped in the bookstore to charge his phone when he felt an ‘internal build up that led to his fight or flight response kicking in.’
He then allegedly attacked Loncharich without any specific motive.
Moore made his first court appearance on Wednesday and has been jailed without bond, online records showed. He is due back in court next month.
The Daily Mail has approached Palm Beach Gardens police and Barnes and Noble for comment.
The bookstore, in a statement to ABC, declined to comment on the active investigation.
