What should have been a routine child custody exchange outside a Texas YMCA turned into a violent and deeply disturbing scene, with police now alleging the attack was part of a revenge plot involving two bitter exes.
Authorities say Oscar Javier Barbosa was stabbed outside the Davis-Scott Family YMCA in San Antonio on February 19 while handing off his children to his ex-girlfriend, Melanie Sierra Gomez.
But according to police, this was no random attack.
Investigators believe Gomez, 32, helped orchestrate the stabbing with Abel Ali Rivas—the ex-boyfriend of Barbosa’s current girlfriend. In other words, police say two former flames may have teamed up to target the same man in a twisted act of retaliation.
Rivas was arrested on March 22 and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a controlled substance, according to reports. He is now being held in Bexar County Jail on $105,000 bail.
Gomez had already been arrested days earlier, on February 24, on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She was later released on bond on March 4.
Police say Barbosa suffered stab wounds to his stomach and arms and had to undergo surgery at a nearby hospital. He survived the attack and is now cooperating with investigators.
One detail may have helped crack the case quickly: Barbosa was reportedly on the phone with his girlfriend when he was attacked.
That call helped lead police to the suspects, according to reports.
The alleged setup unfolded during a custody transfer involving Barbosa and Gomez, who share two children together. After the stabbing, police say Rivas climbed into Barbosa’s car and drove off, leaving Gomez behind at the scene. She reportedly left shortly afterward.
The case gets even more troubling when you look at Gomez’s history.
According to jail records, she was already on probation at the time of the attack. Reports say she had previously agreed to deferred adjudication in a 2024 case involving a terroristic threat that caused fear of imminent serious bodily injury.
Now, both she and Rivas are at the center of a case that sounds more like a crime thriller than a custody handoff.
