DA’s Office Drops Case Against City Brothers for Alleged Haverhill Stabbing

File photograph. (Image licensed by Ingram Image.)

The armed assault to murder charges against Jose Vasquez Jr. and Gilbert Vasquez were dismissed this week. (File photograph)

Two brothers residing on Haverhill’s High Street found armed assault to murder charges against them dropped when the Essex County District Attorney’s office dismissed their case this week, WHAV has learned.

On Wednesday, Jose Vasquez Jr. and Gilbert Vasquez, both of 11 High St., were cleared of charges related to an alleged double stabbing in Lafayette Square last summer. According to DA Jonathan W. Blodgett’s spokeswoman Carrie Kimball Monahan, the case was dismissed after victims failed to appear for a probable cause court hearing.

Twenty-four-year-old Jose and 22-year-old Gilbert were arrested shortly after the July 2018 double stabbing of men from Methuen and Nashua, N.H. in a Lafayette Square alleyway. According to police, the brothers were said to have “a beef” with the Methuen man, who was stabbed in the abdomen.

A third Vasquez brother—Rony—is still facing legal charges in an unrelated case, the DA’s office said. WHAV was first to report that 19-year-old Rony sought retaliation for the May 2018 murder of his friend Nike Colon by allegedly shooting a rival gang member on the city’s Fifth Avenue. That shooting happened one month before his brothers’ arrests.

Police said Rony Vasquez was “actively looking purchase or locate more firearms” in an effort to send a message to those said to be responsible for Colon’s death. The victim in the June 2018 Fifth Avenue shooting is a close friend of Colon’s alleged killer Eddy Almonte, according to police.

Rony Vasquez’s case continues in Salem Superior Court later this month.