Plymouth County man pled not guilty, held without bail, for allegedly murdering Fall River’s Edmar Goncalves in park

A Plymouth County man pled not guilty in Superior Court on charges that he fatally stabbed a Fall River man in a Brockton park.

37-year-old Johnny Richmond of Brockton was indicted in Superior Court on November 22nd on charges of Murder, Carrying a Dangerous Weapon, and Threat to Commit a Crime (2 counts), according to court records.

On Tuesday he was held without bail.

Richmond previously pled not guilty in Brockton District Court to one count of Murder and was held without bail, at the Commonwealth’s request. 

On July 20th, at just before 6:15 p.m., Brockton Police received several 911 calls for a report of a stabbing that had occurred in the park located at the intersection of Crescent and Montello Streets. Upon arrival, Brockton police officers located a male victim, and he was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital where he was pronounced dead of his injuries. He has been identified as 39-year-old Edmar Goncalves of Fall River. 

Brockton Police conducted witness interviews on scene and determined the stabbing suspect to be Richmond. He was arrested a short time later in the vicinity of the stabbing. Richmond had a laceration to his hand and was transported to South Shore Hospital for treatment. 

Brockton Police contacted Massachusetts State Police troopers assigned to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office to begin the investigation.

Preliminarily, according to Cruz, it appears that Richmond was threatening several people at the park with a pocketknife that evening, and Goncalves approached Richmond to intervene before Richmond stabbed him. 

Richmond is scheduled for a pretrial conference on April 10th.