VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Court documents obtained by News 3's John Hood allege that Matheus Cavalcante, the suspect who turned himself in over a week ago for the shooting that hurt six bystanders at Virginia Beach Oceanfront, was shot at first before he opened fire in self-defense.
Surveillance cameras in the area appear to show a group of four men attempting to rob Cavalcante of his gun in the 1900 block of Atlantic Ave, the documents say. Three of the men took out guns and one shot towards Cavalcante, striking a bystander. Cavalcante returned fire and five unrelated people were also hurt in the shooting.
VBPD officers heard shots patrolling the Oceanfront heard shots fired around 9:50 p.m. Saturday, March 7 in the 1800 block of Atlantic Avenue. They found five people who had been shot: four men and one woman. Detectives later found a sixth victim at a local hospital. Their injuries were not life-threatening, police said.
Watch previous coverage: Six shot at Oceanfront incident
Previous allegations suggested that Cavalcante was the lone shooter responsible for all six woundings. But these new court documents also do not state definitively that Cavalcante was allegedly responsible for the other five woundings.
Jamari D. Horton, 22, and Andrew P. Anthony, 19, were identified as being involved in the attempted robbery and were arrested last Wednesday.
Cavalcante, 18, was granted bond set at $25,000 on Monday, after initially being denied.
Watch related: Cavalcante granted bond
The chaos of that weekend — the first this year with nice weather at the Oceanfront — incident prompted VBPD Chief Paul Neudigate last week to ask the city council to implement an "imminent threat curfew" for minors from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. Council approved the request on Thursday.
Neudigate said incidents like this shooting, although they involved adults, are borne from too many young people flooding the Oceanfront area. Dozens of minors were detained for curfew violations that same night; the curfew prior was 10 p.m.
Watch related: City Council approves imminent threat curfew
News 3 reached out to Cavalcante's attorney, Diane Toscano, Wednesday, whose office referred us to her previous statement:
“Matheus is a good kid from a good family. The evidence will show that he was the victim of a robbery attempt and acted in self-defense. We look forward to defending him against these charges. Our client has no criminal record and has never been in trouble with the law. He graduated from Granby High School, where he played football, and works for a respected local employer. He’s been building his life and trying to do the right thing.”
