A 62-year-old Worcester man who went to the Auburn Mall Wednesday to keep an online appointment ended up being stabbed and robbed by a man and a woman he allowed into his car, Auburn police said.
The name of the victim was not released, and police would not provide information about who the man expected to meet at the mall or why.
Police said the victim arrived at the mall just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, expecting to meet one person, but was met by a man and a woman identified as Eric Collette, 24, and Ann Delcid, 31, both of Auburn.
All three people went into the victim’s car for a short amount of time where Delcid sat in the back seat, Collette sat in the front passenger seat, and the victim sat in the driver’s seat, Auburn Police Detective Sergeant Richard Mills said in a telephone interview.
At one point, both Delcid and Collette allegedly armed themselves with knives. Delcid allegedly reached from behind the victim’s seat and held a knife to the victim’s throat as Collette slashed the victim’s pocket and stole his wallet, Mills said.
The suspects fled the vehicle and left the victim with a half-inch stab wound in his neck and wounds to his leg and right hand, Mills said.
After being stabbed, the victim seemed to have panicked, Mills said, and decided to try driving home despite his injuries. At one point, he called a relative who alerted authorities that he had been stabbed near the mall, police said.
The victim drove into the parking lot of an emergency clinic near his home but remained in the car, where he continued to bleed from his wounds, Mills said. A medical professional from the clinic spotted the wounded man sitting in the car and provided emergency care until an ambulance arrived, he said.
When police arrived on the scene “initially [the victim] wasn’t super cooperative,’’ Mills said.
The victim was then taken to UMass Hospital, where he was treated for two stab wounds, police said.
Mills was able to get a copy of the ad that the victim had been responding to and used the phone number on the ad to track down Collette.
Delcid and Collette were both arrested Thursday, police said.
Collete was arrested earlier this month for allegedly stealing $5,000 from a liquor store he was working at, and Delcid is facing charges for allegedly breaking into a vehicle in Uxbridge last December, Mills said.
Maddie Kilgannon can be reached at maddie.kilgannon@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaddieKilgannon.