Family Of Pierce County Mass Stabbing Suspect Condemns "Broken" Mental Health System Following Fatal Attack

Family of Aleksandr Shablykin reveals a year of failed interventions and unserved protection orders before the Purdy mass stabbing. Read the full report.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 5, 2026, 9:18 AM EST

Source: The information in this article was sourced from The News Tribune.

A week after a violent spree left a Key Peninsula neighborhood in mourning, the family of Aleksandr Shablykin is speaking out about the systemic gaps that preceded the tragedy. Shablykin is accused of the brutal stabbing deaths of his 52-year-old mother, Zoya Shablykina, and three other women aged 59, 67, and 81. In a deeply personal statement, his sister, Anastasiya Shablykina, and family friend Robert Knowles described a year-long struggle to secure consistent psychiatric care for a man who believed he was an Egyptian god and viewed his relatives as demons.

The warning signs were documented in a series of law enforcement contacts and court filings throughout 2025. In April of last year, deputies responded to a mental health crisis where Shablykin was found performing rituals in a ransacked home. Despite a court commissioner finding him a "credible threat" and issuing a protection order that mandated psychiatric treatment and medication compliance, the order was never officially served by police. The family alleges that upon his discharge from behavioral health facilities, they were given zero guidance or oversight tools, essentially being left to manage a violent crisis on their own.

Tensions reached a breaking point just days before the attack when Shablykin stopped taking his prescribed medication. His sister called 911 on February 23, reporting his erratic behavior and stating her belief that he was heading to their mother's residence in a state of psychosis. Although Orting police responded to the call, Shablykin had already departed. The family expressed profound frustration that this information was not effectively used to prevent him from reaching the Key Peninsula home where the murders occurred the following morning.

The nightmare culminated on February 24 when Shablykin’s grandmother, listening via phone from Kentucky, reportedly heard the attack begin. By the time Pierce County deputies arrived and fatally shot Shablykin, four victims were dead. Robert Knowles questioned the response time of the Sheriff’s Office, noting that a detachment office was located less than four miles from the scene. The family maintains that while Shablykin committed horrific acts, the man they knew had been "lost" to a mental health system that prioritizes procedural bureaucracy over proactive intervention.

As the investigation continues, the Shablykin family is c...