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A quiet Wednesday night on Aetna Street turned into one of the most brutal crime scenes Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn has ever witnessed. Two young men are dead, a Fall River man is sitting in a cell without bail, and the weapon that ended one of those lives was a pitchfork.
This is Fall River at its rawest – and for a city that has seen plenty of violence over the years, even hardened investigators were shaken by what they found.
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What Happened on Aetna Street
At approximately 8:50 p.m. on Wednesday, June 10th, Fall River Police were dispatched to 90 Aetna Street for reports of shots fired. What greeted officers on scene wasn’t just a shooting – it was a massacre carried out with a firearm, a cobblestone, and an agricultural tool.
The first victim, Pablo Henrique Rocha-DaSilva, 20, of Whitman, was found on the sidewalk between 90 and 104 Aetna Street. He was unresponsive, covered in blood, with significant trauma to his face. Investigators say he had been shot through an open car window, then dragged from the driver’s seat across the pavement, beaten with the firearm until he went limp – and then struck repeatedly in the head with a cobblestone pulled from the driveway.
The second victim, Eduardo Cardosa DaSilva, 19, of Fall River, was found in the rear corner of 99 Aetna Street. He had managed to flee after the initial shots. He didn’t make it far. When officers reached him, a metal pitchfork was impaled in the back of his skull.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
Suspect Caught Red-Handed, Covered in Blood
Massachusetts State Police troopers assigned to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office didn’t have to look far. About a block away, on Vale Street, they spotted Vitor Francisco Gomes, 28, of Fall River – covered head to toe in blood, approximately 15 minutes after the attacks. After a brief foot chase, Gomes was taken down. In the bag he was carrying: a firearm and ammunition.
Gomes was charged with:
- Two counts of Murder
- Unlawful Carrying of a Firearm
- Unlawful Possession of Ammunition
He was arraigned Thursday morning in Fall River District Court before Judge Kevin J. Finnerty, where he pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail. A probable cause hearing is set for July 14, 2026.
More than a dozen of the victims’ family members and friends packed the courthouse. Before proceedings began, hysterical screams were audible from a meeting room where they gathered with prosecutors. Whatever arguments follow in court, the grief on that hallway was real and immediate.
How It Unfolded: An Argument, a Gun, and Then Chaos
According to Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Dennis Collins, who laid out the prosecution’s account at arraignment, the night began with an argument between Gomes and Eduardo DaSilva. According to Collins, Gomes went inside his own home at 90 Aetna Street and came back out with a gun.
At that point, Pablo DaSilva and Eduardo DaSilva were in a vehicle attempting to leave. Gomes allegedly drew the weapon from his waistband and fired three times through an open window, hitting Pablo. Eduardo bolted behind 99 Aetna Street. Gomes followed. At least two more shots were fired. Then came the pitchfork.
Most of the attack, Collins told the judge, was caught on video surveillance cameras. This is not a whodunit. Prosecutors say they have it on tape.
DA Quinn didn’t mince words at a press conference held after the arraignment, alongside Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan and acting Police Chief JT Hoar: “It’s brutality like I’ve never seen before. I’ve never heard of a pitchfork in the back of someone’s head and the use of a cobblestone to inflict serious head injuries.”
The Defense: “He Was Threatened”
Defense attorney Ken Van Colen painted a different picture. He described Gomes as a working husband and father with no significant criminal history, and framed the encounter as something that started as “informal sparring” – a street boxing match that spiraled out of control.
“These people were threatening my client,” Van Colen told the court. “They were going to kill my client and his family. This is not in his nature.”
The self-defense argument is on the table, though DA Quinn was blunt about where he stands: “We’ll see how that materializes.” With the attack largely on surveillance video, prosecutors appear confident in their case.
It’s worth noting that the victims drove to Aetna Street – Pablo DaSilva from Whitman, 20 miles north. How the night began and what history existed between these three men is still under investigation. The DA’s office declined to confirm whether the two victims were related to each other.
Fall River’s Violence Problem Isn’t Going Anywhere
This double homicide didn’t happen in a vacuum. Fall River consistently ranks among the most dangerous cities in Massachusetts, with violent crime rates 107% higher than the national average. The chance of being the victim of violent crime here is roughly 1 in 133 – worse than 96% of Massachusetts cities and towns.
For context: this case broke just days after Fall River man Benjamin Hunt, 27, was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison for drug distribution resulting in the death of a minor – drugs sold over Telegram, including machineguns and firearm parts. Two different cases. Two different kinds of violence. Both happening in the same city within the same week.
It’s also not the first time this spring that Fall River made regional headlines for street violence. Earlier this year a Fall River drug dealer tried to run from police – a reminder that the street-level chaos in this city runs deep and wide.
Mayor Coogan called the Aetna Street murders a “tragedy for all the families involved” and said he hoped it was a “one off.” That’s a hope a lot of Fall River residents share. Whether the city’s leadership can translate that hope into meaningful safety improvements is another question entirely – one that the streets of Fall River keep asking, and Beacon Hill keeps ignoring.
For now, Vitor Francisco Gomes sits in a cell. Two families are planning funerals. And Aetna Street, which also hosted a six-family house fire just four months ago, is once again sealed off with yellow tape while investigators piece together exactly how a boxing match became a blood-soaked double murder.
This is a developing case. The probable cause hearing is scheduled for July 14, 2026 in Fall River District Court. SouthCoastHack will continue to follow it.
Sources: Fall River Reporter | WBSM | Boston 25 News | Bristol County District Attorney’s Office
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