When four men tried to rob Matheus Cavalcante of a gun he was carrying in the waistband of his shorts, the 18-year-old pulled the pistol and fired six shots in self-defense.
Not one of those rounds hit Cavalcante's intended targets. Instead, six innocent bystanders on Virginia Beach's busy boardwalk were struck, while the four robbers fled the scene.
Police arrested the four individuals, who are now facing charges of attempted robbery and felonious use of a firearm, as well as malicious wounding, using a firearm in the commission of a felony, and reckless handling of a firearm.
Cavalcante was also charged with the same offenses (minus the attempted robbery charge), with prosecutors alleging that the 18-year-old fired his gun without justification. In a twist, though, a special prosecutor appointed to take Cavalcante's case to trial has instead dropped the charges against the young man.
“Upon review of the facts, circumstances and evidence in the case, I could not determine that Matheus Cavalcante acted either with malice or recklessness,” Williamsburg-James City County Commonwealth’s Attorney Nate Green said during a preliminary hearing case Thursday in Virginia Beach’s General District Court.
... Several surveillance videos of Atlantic Avenue between 18th Street and 19th Street supported Cavalcante’s version of events, according to his attorney and prosecutors.
Two men flank either side of him and seem to reach for a handgun tucked into the waistband of Cavalcante’s black shorts, according to prosecutors’ account of the footage.
Within seconds Cavalcante can be seen turning and facing a third man, who has a gun pointed toward his face, before lifting his .45-caliber handgun and firing several shots as he stepped backwards.
Cavalcante’s shots struck six bystanders — all ages 18 through 24. Police found six shell casings from Cavalcante’s gun as well as a seventh 9mm shell casing from a different weapon.
After the man withdraws his gun and runs away in the footage, Cavalcante runs in the opposite direction.
“Doing something poorly is not the same thing as doing something recklessly,” Green said in announcing his decision to drop the charges.
The Virginia Beach police chief disagrees.
The decision, Police Chief Paul Neudigate said, “sends the message that gunfights on Atlantic Avenue will be tolerated and does little to assure our residents and visitors that individuals who cause harm in our community will be held accountable for their actions.”
With all due respect to Neudigate, it's the armed robberies that shouldn't be tolerated. Acting in self-defense, on the other hand, should be tolerated and accepted.
There's no doubt that Cavalcante caused harm to those he shot, but that wasn't his intent. He had a gun pointed at him, which led him to reasonably believe that his life was in danger. He was justified in using deadly force at that moment, and if that's the case then it's hard to argue he acted recklessly... and impossible to conclude he acted with malice against those who were unintentionally shot.
Cavalcante would never have drawn his gun or pulled the trigger if he wasn't the target of the four men trying to rob him. I'm sure his attorneys will argue that if the shooter isn't facing charges for those he injured, they shouldn't either, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're offered a deal to plead guilty to attempted robbery with the remaining charges being dropped.
Cavalcante, meanwhile, could face civil suits from those he injured, even if he's no longer facing criminal liability for his actions, so he's not entirely out of the woods (or the courtroom).
I hope that if the young man continues to carry a gun in self-defense he'll put in some time at the range, and getting some training from a certified instructor wouldn't be a bad idea either. I firmly believe that Cavalcante had the right to defend himself, but the results of his defensive gun use were less than ideal... and might even lead anti-gun legislators in Virginia to revamp the self-defense statute when they return to Richmond for the 2027 session.
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