Police in Atlantic City have released the names of the two women fatally stabbed during a botched robbery Monday.

The Scarborough mother and daughter are Po Lin Wan, 80, and Alice Mei See Leung, 47.

Another woman, Antoinette Pelzer, faces murder charges in connection with their deaths.

The two women were attacked in the heart of the city’s tourism district on Monday in what’s being called a botched robbery. Police said both were stabbed multiple times.

An Atlantic City police officer, who was patrolling the area at the time, witnessed the attack and intervened. The officer arrested Pelzer, 44, from Pennsylvania.

Pelzer had been living in an Ohio shelter until December, when her mother brought her back to Philadelphia, said Pelzer’s aunt Nadine King, also of Philadelphia.

Pelzer has long suffered from schizophrenia and had been homeless since January, said King, adding she had seen her niece out “begging for money.”

King said Pelzer, a mother of three, did not have a criminal record. She blamed her mental illness for what happened.

However, the prosceutor says there was no indication of mental illness.

Pelzer was initially charged with two counts of aggravated assault. Those charges were later upgraded to murder. She also faces charges of unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose and robbery.

Local NBC reporter Rick Ritter was in court and said Pelzer’s demenour was shocking.

“I’ve never seen somebody come into court the way that she did, showing little remorse, if any at all really. There were countless times when she actually laughed and asked for her public defender,” NBC’s Ritter said.

Gladys Pelzer, the defendant’s mother, told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that the stabbings apparently occurred while her daughter was trying to get money to buy cigarettes.

“I feel sorry about the people she hurt all because she wanted a cigarette. That’s what this was all about,” she told the TV station.

According to NBC, the weapon used in the murders was a 12-inch butcher knife.

The bail has been set $1.5-million (U.S.) in cash.