FALL RIVER MA April 6 2019— Police said a knife-wielding man who has a documented “obsession” with the martial arts allegedly approached a security guard parked behind Atlantis Charter School early Thursday morning, performed a back-flip then ran away.
Joshua Rocha, 26, of Fall River, was arrested later Thursday in connection with the incident. He was booked on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and disturbing the peace while armed, according to Detective John Robinson. According to Massachusetts General Law, assault is a misdemeanor crime involving an attempted battery or an intent to place another person in fear of immediate battery.
The security guard told police he saw the man, later identified as Rocha, while sitting in his car parked at the rear gate of the Jefferson Street school just after 4 a.m.
Rocha was wearing a long black coat and pants and ran toward the guard while holding a “long knife,” Robinson said in a statement.
Rocha did a back-flip while “waving” the knife, Robinson said.
“According to our complainant, the suspect did a back-flip while holding a knife, then ran off,” said Robinson.
The guard feared for his safety. He put his car in reverse and backed toward the school, and in the process hit a curb and damaged his car, according to Robinson.
The guard was unhurt and called police. Rocha ran away toward the front entrance of the school, Robinson said.
Police arrived at the scene, searched the school grounds and did not find a suspect, according to Robinson.
Officers walked into the school through an unlocked entrance and, in the process, set off the automatic alarm system, Robinson said. They did not find a suspect inside the school building.
Footage from the school’s security system captured the incident, which sounded familiar to Detective Dwaine Cabeceiras.
Cabeceiras remembered once seeing a male doing a back-flip off a loading dock “in the same area” as Atlantis Charter School while holding “wooden swords,” Robinson said.
During that incident, the back-flipping male “hurled rocks” at a marked cruiser and ran away, but was later apprehended by Lt. Gil Costa.
Robinson said of Rocha: “There were numerous reports associated with this individual and his obsession with martial arts.”
Special Operations Division Officers John Ruggiero, David Saraiva and Lt. David Gouveia went to Rocha’s home and knocked on his door, Robinson said.
Rocha was dressed in an outfit that was “similar” to the one worn by the suspect captured in video surveillance footage. Officers asked Rocha where the long black coat was, and he pointed to a jacket hanging on the door, said Robinson.
Rocha let the officers in. In his bedroom, officers saw a knife that looked like the one depicted in the footage, Robinson said.
Rocha told officers he was in the area of Atlantis Charter School with the knife at the time of the incident, according to Robinson. He said he used to run in the area before the school was built and “needed the knife to cut through vegetation.”
The administration of Atlantis Charter School acknowledged the incident in an email blast to the school community Thursday.
“Please note that there is currently no known threat to the school or community. However, out of our own abundance of caution, Atlantis administration has asked staff to keep students inside the school building today, and we have arranged with FRPD to post additional officers on site while police continue to review the incident,” the email read.
Herald News

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