Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Man in Fatal January Cambridge Stabbing

Prosecutors dropped all charges last week against a man charged in connection with a fatal January stabbing in Cambridge, after determining they could not prove he had not acted in self-defense.

Victor J. Rivas, a 51-year-old from South Boston, was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury and carrying a dangerous weapon after a Jan. 6 stabbing at an apartment building on Norfolk Street near Inman Square.

Cambridge Police officers responded to a report of a person who had been stabbed at 116 Norfolk St. and found Antoine Johnson with serious injuries. Johnson was transported to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

Police found Rivas nearby with injuries and arrested him. Rivas pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment.

In a nolle prosequi filed June 8, prosecutors wrote that Rivas told officers Johnson tried to rob him at knifepoint inside an apartment bathroom, and that he stabbed Johnson in the chest while he was “fighting for his life.”

Prosecutors wrote that Rivas had gone to the apartment to sell marijuana to Johnson. When the two entered a bathroom to make the exchange, Johnson pulled out a knife, held it to Rivas’s throat, and told him to “give it up,” according to the filing.

The filing says Johnson punched Rivas repeatedly and pulled him back into the bathroom as Rivas tried to leave. Rivas then stabbed Johnson and fled the apartment, prosecutors wrote.

Surveillance video showed Johnson chase Rivas out of the apartment before collapsing in the building’s vestibule, according to the filing. Medical examiners later determined that Johnson suffered a heart injury from the stab wound. Rivas had lacerations on his head and hands, according to court documents.

Prosecutors wrote that evidence gathered from the apartment supported Rivas’s account. Investigators found signs of a struggle in the bathroom, including personal items strewn across the floor. They also found a knife from the apartment’s kitchen with its handle and blade separated on the bathroom floor, per the filing.

“The Commonwealth has determined that it is not able to meet its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Rivas did not act in lawful self-defense when he stabbed Mr. Johnson during this incident,” Assistant Middlesex District Attorney Nicole Allain wrote in the filing.

Carolyn I. McGowan, Rivas’s attorney, wrote in a statement to The Crimson that she was “deeply appreciative” of prosecutors’ decision and their handling of the case.

“Because the prosecution maintained an objective, open-minded approach to this investigation, they were able to uncover a substantial body of evidence that fully supports concluding that Mr. Rivas had gone through a terrifying event and was telling the truth,” McGowan wrote.

McGowan added that she was “thankful” Rivas was released without bail, “which enabled an innocent man to remain free while the Commonwealth worked through everything.”

The Jan. 6 stabbing was Cambridge’s first reported homicide since January 2025, according to Cambridge police.

—Staff writer Shawn A. Boehmer can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at shawnb.18. Follow him on X @ShawnBoehmer.