Turkish police have detained a 40-year-old man in Istanbul’s Fatih district on assault charges over the attacks on elderly Armenian women in Istanbul’s Samatya neighborhood, daily Hürriyet reported. The suspect, identified as Murat N., is a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin and was detained as a suspect in five attacks, one of which resulted in death.

The suspect lives alone and allegedly committed the assaults for theft, according to unnamed sources.

Police sources neither confirmed nor denied the detention.

On Dec. 28, 2012, Maritsa Küçük was stabbed seven times before her throat was slit at her home in Samatya. Two other attacks were carried out in the same month against elderly Armenian women in the Samatya and Bakırköy districts as well.

One of the women, 87-year-old Turfanda Aşık, lost an eye, while the other woman was robbed and severely injured. Most recently, 84-year-old Sultan Akyar was attacked in Samatya, after which she underwent eye surgery. On Jan. 27, a march was organized in Samatya district to protest the attacks.