Angel Nieves, a 21-year-old Hispanic/Latino male, was identified by authorities as the man killed in a late-night shooting in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on January 13, 2025. Although he died in Cambridge, official and local reports described him as being from Springfield, with Cambridge police later noting that he was formerly of Cambridge. The shooting happened shortly before 11:30 p.m.
on Clifton Street in North Cambridge, when the sound of multiple gunshots drew police to the area.
When officers arrived, they found Nieves outside a residence on Clifton Street suffering from numerous gunshot wounds. Some reports described the location as outside a home, and at least one local report placed the scene outside 24 Clifton Street. Emergency responders rushed him to Mount Auburn Hospital, but he was later pronounced dead. Cambridge police and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office treated the case as a homicide, and the city later described it as Cambridge’s first homicide in more than a year.
The scene unfolded in a residential neighborhood where residents later described being startled by the gunfire. One neighbor reported hearing what sounded like shots, looking outside, and seeing someone run down the street and apparently get into a getaway car that sped away. Another neighbor recalled seeing someone being placed on a stretcher and taken into an ambulance. News footage and reporting from the scene described investigators collecting evidence around midnight, with evidence markers in the road and items such as a jacket visible near the area being examined.
Authorities said early in the investigation that the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident and that there was no known ongoing danger to the public. The case was assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, Cambridge Police, and the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the district attorney’s office. Police urged anyone with information to contact the Cambridge Police Criminal Investigations Unit, including through the department’s anonymous tip line or online tip portal.
In the weeks after the killing, Cambridge officials held a community meeting at the Peabody School in North Cambridge, where residents raised concerns about neighborhood safety, notification after violent incidents, lighting, and police response. Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow and other officials addressed questions from the community, and Nieves’ mother reportedly urged people to trust local officers as the investigation continued.
No arrests have been publicly announced in the killing of Angel Nieves. Available reports did not identify a named suspect or suspects, and no charges, trial proceedings, or convictions were reported. Cambridge police continued to classify the case as an active investigation in later crime-stat reporting, again noting that Nieves had been found with multiple gunshot wounds outside a Clifton Street residence and died after being transported to a local hospital.
