Man to remain in prison after middle school feud ended in stabbing teen 13 times
A Massachusetts man will remain incarcerated for at least another two years after a teenager was stabbed and killed in 2010.
Erving Cruz was convicted of second-degree murder for the death of 17-year-old Tigan Hollingsworth. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Etnid Lopez, Cruz's nephew, and Hollingsworth had an ongoing feud since they had been in middle school, according to the Massachusetts Parole Board.
On June 25, 2010, in Taunton, there was an argument involving Hollingsworth at Grampy's Store. Lopez, 24-year-old Cruz and Jean Carlos Lopez began chasing Hollingsworth, according to the parole board.
When they caught him, they beat and stabbed him 13 times — once in his head, once in his right abdomen and the remaining 11 stabbings in his back.
When police found the 17-year-old, he was gasping for breath and saying, "I can't breathe." He died at the hospital.
Prosecutors charged Cruz with murder under the joint venture theory, alleging Cruz was one of two men who kicked and punched Hollingsworth to the ground before someone else stabbed him.
Cruz's lawyer said his client never intended for Hollingsworth to die.
During his time in prison, Cruz was found making homebrew in 2020. He is also working on getting his associate's degree.
"The Board notes Mr. Cruz's educational pursuits and encourages him to complete his degree and establish a plan to maintain his sobriety long-term," the board wrote in its Sept. 23 decision to deny him parole.
He, currently living in MCI-Shirley, will be allowed to ask for parole again in two years.
Lopez, currently in Pondville Correctional Center, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He went in front of the parole board for the first time on April 29 — directly after Cruz's parole board hearing — although no decision has been made as of Tuesday.
Jean Carlos Lopez was serving a life sentence but it was overturned in 2020.
The Supreme Judicial Court said prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jean Carlos Lopez was even present during the attack on 17-year-old and ordered the lower court to enter a judgment of not guilty.
More on the Massachusetts Parole Board
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