Authorities say a custody exchange at a family-centered San Antonio site became the scene of a targeted attack.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — On most evenings, the Davis-Scott Family YMCA on San Antonio’s East Side is associated with workouts, children’s activities and parents arriving for routine pickups. Police say that familiar setting became the backdrop for a planned stabbing Feb. 19 during a custody exchange between two parents.
That contrast is why the case has drawn such sharp attention locally. Investigators say the violence did not unfold in an isolated alley or after a random encounter, but outside a family institution where a father had gone to get his children. Two people now face aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges: Abel Ali Rivas, 27, who police accuse of wielding the knife, and Melanie Sierra Gomez, 31, the children’s mother, who officers say helped draw the victim into the confrontation and stop him from escaping.
Before the attack, according to affidavits cited by local outlets, 32-year-old Oscar Javier Barbosa was carrying out a task that sounded routine. He went to the YMCA on Iowa Street to pick up the two children he shares with Gomez. Investigators say Gomez was in contact with him by phone and told him to go inside the building. Then she told him to come back out. In police accounts, the parking lot outside the building became the key transition point, where an everyday child handoff gave way to an ambush allegation. When Barbosa stepped outside, Rivas was there waiting, police said. The records describe a quick verbal clash. Barbosa’s current girlfriend, who was on a separate call with him, later told police she heard him ask, “Are you going to stab me over this?”
The affidavits cast the YMCA grounds almost like a stage with different roles assigned to each adult. Gomez is accused of steering Barbosa’s movements and then joining the confrontation. Rivas is accused of carrying out the stabbing itself. Barbosa is described as trying to manage the exchange while speaking with his current girlfriend. Police say Gomez accused him of getting that girlfriend pregnant, then told Rivas to continue. Officers allege Rivas stabbed Barbosa multiple times in the abdomen and arms, while Gomez pinned him against a vehicle. The injuries were reported as serious but not life-threatening. Officers reached the scene around 6:40 p.m. and found Barbosa bleeding outside the building, then sent him to a hospital for treatment.
The East Side context gives the case added meaning. The Davis-Scott branch is more than a street address; it is a neighborhood institution linked to recreation, youth programs and daily family movement. A child custody exchange there would not have seemed out of place. That makes the state’s allegations more jarring, because they describe violence inserted into a setting built around trust and routine. At the same time, several details remain unknown in public reporting. The available accounts do not say whether YMCA staff witnessed any part of the altercation, whether security footage exists, or whether the children were already inside or nearby when the stabbing began. Those gaps matter because they shape how the public understands the extent of the disruption inside a community space.
Police say the scene did not end when Barbosa fell wounded. After the stabbing, Rivas allegedly took Barbosa’s running vehicle and fled. Gomez, officers said, stayed for a short time and continued making insulting remarks about Barbosa’s current girlfriend before leaving as well. Barbosa later identified both suspects, and local reports say investigators also used photo lineups. Gomez was arrested first and later posted an $85,000 bond. Rivas was arrested later and was reported held on a total of $105,000 bond, including a separate amount tied to a drug-possession allegation. The case has not yet publicly moved beyond the early charging phase, and the defense side of the story has not appeared in the reports that followed the arrests.
Structurally, the prosecution’s account appears to rely on place as much as on sequence. Investigators can point to the phone calls that moved Barbosa in and out of the building, the witnesses who say they heard voices, and the physical injuries officers documented when they arrived. But they can also point to the nature of the destination itself: Barbosa was not said to be chasing a confrontation. He was said to be arriving at a known family location for a child exchange. In that sense, the YMCA parking lot is not just where the crime allegedly happened. It is part of why police say the encounter looked orchestrated from the start.
For now, the case leaves the community with a stark image: a family handoff outside a neighborhood YMCA turned into a felony prosecution with two defendants and a surviving victim. The next developments will come in court, where investigators’ account will face its first sustained challenge.
Author note: Last updated April 16, 2026.