According to pressofAtlanticCity, police officer Jacob Abbruscato witnessed the unprovoked attack against the Canadian women and drew his weapon in a bid to stop the bloody assault.

The victims, aged 47 and 80, were alive when an ambulance arrived about 10 a.m., but died from their wounds in the afternoon at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center's City Campus.

Both women, from Scarborough, had been stabbed several times in the upper body.

Abbruscato ordered the assailant to drop her weapon in the random daylight attack, which she did before being apprehended on Pacific Avenue, near Bally's Casino.

WPVI TV reported that the accused was trying to take a purse from one of the victims before the fatal knifings.

Antoinette E. Pelzer, 44, of Philadelphia, is charged with aggravated assault, and weapons and robbery offences.

She remains in custody and charges are expected to be upgraded.

The accused woman's mother has told some media her daughter suffered from schizophrenia and was likely off her medication.

The names of the victims have not yet been released.

- With files from QMI Agency