‘God Told Me to Do It': Man Stabs Neighbor Over Noise Complaint in Townsend, Massachusetts

The neighbor asked the man to quiet down when he stabbed her

A female tenant was stabbed after she asked her neighbor to make less noise in Townsend, Massachusetts, police say.

Officers responded to 5 Turnpike Rd. for a disturbance call early Friday morning.

They found a 65-year-old woman stabbed.

"I heard a woman say 'get away from me,'" said a neighbor who could hear the incident.

She says she also heard the same loud noises coming from the suspect's apartment early Friday morning.

"I don't know what he was doing, but it was like boom, boom, just like angry."

Police say Polakowski struck the victim three times, with a 3-4-inch knife.

They also say they had to break down the suspect's door, and when they cuffed him, he allegedly told them "God told me to do it."

Police say they found the knife on Polakowski's bathroom sink.

The victim was bleeding profusely when she was rushed to the hospital, according to officials. She told police that Polakowski had been acting strangely over the past couple of days.

"I see him all the time, he's nice, every time he walks by he makes sure he gives a wave and I wave back, never really engage in conversation with him though," said another neighbor, Mike Choi, of the suspect.

Polakowski has now been ordered by a judge to undergo a psych evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital before he returns to court later this month.

He allegedly told police at the station that he was hearing voices. When police asked what the voices were saying he allegedly said, "Jesus is telling me to be silent."

Polakowski is charged with assault to murder, attempted murder, and assault and battery on a person over 60.

The unidentified neighbor tells us she's previously called police 3-4 times in the past, to say she was being threatened by Polakowski:

"He would crumple brown bags and leave them in front of my door, leave plastic glass that you could cut your foot on if I was to step in it," she said.

He is being held on $50,000 cash bail and will be arraigned Friday in Ayer District Court, officials said.

The investigation is ongoing.

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