John Jefferson
Left: Vicente Joseph Arroyo. Right: Some of the weapons Arroyo allegedly used to kill over 80 animals (Monterey County Sheriff’s Office)
A California man is behind bars after he allegedly started randomly shooting and killing more than 80 animals in a vineyard.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office started receiving several shots fired calls shortly before 3:30 a.m. Tuesday in the area of the 16000 block of Avery Lane. Deputies rushed to the scene and heard shots, but because of the darkness and heavy vegetation, they could not immediately find the shooter. They issued a shelter-in-place order for the people who lived nearby and, with the help of a drone, located the suspect and an apparent crashed vehicle.
Monterey County SWAT approached the suspect in an armored vehicle and arrested 39-year-old Vicente Joseph Arroyo of Salinas. Cops searched the area and found 81 dead or near-dead animals, including miniature horses, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, ducks and other types of birds. The animals who survived were taken to a veterinarian clinic where they had to be euthanized because of their extensive injuries, deputies said.
Authorities also recovered several long rifles, shotguns and handguns, plus an illegal assault weapon and several empty and loaded magazines, cops said. Arroyo was initially charged with willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, cruelty to animals, illegal possession of an assault weapon and felon in possession of a firearm, among other charges. His bond was set at $50,000.
But when detectives executed a search warrant at his home, they allegedly found seven more firearms, including an unserialized firearm, which is known as a ghost gun. They also reportedly found about 2,000 rounds of ammunition. Bail was increased to $1 million.
“It is without a doubt that the warrant served by our deputies and detectives, which has resulted in the seizure of these additional weapons, has made our community safer,” Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto said in a statement. “I am confident that we have prevented another tragedy from happening in the future.”
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