https://apnews.com/article/northern-california-animal-massacre-man-arrested-b56caee032a9a6d843bf883fac523f36SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man suspected of going on a three-hour shooting rampage in Northern California and killing 81 animals, including miniature horses, goats and chickens, pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty and other charges.Vicente Arroyo, 39, made his first court appearance Thursday after Monterey County Sheriff deputies arrested him earlier in the week for allegedly using several weapons to shoot the animals being housed in pens and cages on a lot in the small community of Prunedale.The animal owners do not want to be identified or speak with the media, Monterey County Sheriff Commander Andres Rosas told The Associated Press Friday.
“I went out there, and it was a pretty traumatic scene. These were people’s pets,” he said.One of the miniature horses belonged to the owner of the lot where the animals were housed, and the other 80 belonged to someone who rented the land to house their pets, Rosas said.According to court records, Arroyo was charged with killing 14 goats, nine chickens, seven ducks, five rabbits, a guinea pig and 33 parakeets and cockatiels. Arroyo is also charged with killing a pony named Lucky and two miniature horses named Estrella and Princessa, KSBW-TV reported.
Some animals survived the shooting that lasted several hours but had to be euthanized because of the severity of their injuries, Rosas said.Rosas said Arroyo lived in a camper in a vineyard next to the lot where the animals were kept and that a motive is not yet known.His attorney, William Pernik, said that after talking to Arroyo and his family he became concerned about his client’s mental competency and asked the judge for a mental health evaluation.“We’re dealing with an individual who has very serious charges and who does not appear to be in the right state of mind to understand the proceedings against him,” Pernik said.
Pernik said that Arroyo’s family had reached out to various country agencies to get help for him but that “unfortunately, he did not receive that mental health help in time before this tragic incident.”The judge ordered Arroyo, who is being held on a $1 million bail, to undergo a mental evaluation.The court will get an update on Arroyo’s mental status in two weeks, Pernik said.
Authorities received multiple 911 calls around 3:25 a.m. Tuesday reporting shots being fired in Prunedale, an incorporated community about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from the city of Salinas, he said.Deputies who arrived on the scene could hear shots being fired, and a shelter-in-place was ordered for a five-mile radius.Monterey County S.W.A.T. members were sent in, and the sheriff’s office also requested drone assistance from the nearby Seaside Fire Department and Gonzales Police Department, Rosas said.Officers in an armored vehicle arrested Arroyo without incident, he said.Deputies found a crashed pickup truck and recovered eight firearms, including long rifles, shotguns and handguns, at the scene. After executing a search warrant on Arroyo’s camper, they found another seven firearms, including an illegal AK-47 assault rifle, two ghost guns, and about 2,000 rounds of various calibers of ammunition, Rosas said.
Prosecutors charged Arroyo with dozens of charges involving animal cruelty, willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, illegal possession of an assault weapon, vandalism, drug possession and making criminal threats and terrorizing while being in possession of a firearm as a felon.“This is obviously the most horrific animal cruelty case we’ve ever seen in this county, I’m sure,” Chief Assistant District Attorney Berkley Brannon told KSBW-TV after the Thursday hearing.
>>1339499a person like this needs to be killed on the spot. not just because he killed dozens of harmless defenseless animals, but because he did this for hours. he is obviously out of his mind and needs to be put down
>>1339499PETAfags BTFO
>>1339499I dont really care about kids at american schools but this passes the line, i hope he gets the death penalty, Cockatiel are adorable creatures same with ducks and parakeets. piece of shit if he's going to go berserk take it out on his neighbour not some innocent animals
>>1339499Don't care. Also not reading all that shit either lmao.
Wtf was that guy's problem
>>1339526And yet you came into the thread and posted anyway. You are a fucking attention whore idiotAlso I hope this dude gets killed, what a piece of shit
>>1339527he's john wick's arch nemesis
>>1339526>Don't care>not reading all that shit either>lmaoi wish you were one of those miniature horses he encountered during that day
>>1339814wish you were one of the chickens. lmao
>>1339655heh
California is just getting outta control saw some punk ass guy use child labor at some tire shop in socal when i went to pick up parts at another shop, i could hear him cussing at the boy just terrible shit, the car parts store near by said not to go there. Word is hes not even from the u.s. and is a complete drunk who makes peoples cars worst. never taking my business there can't wait till trump puts some sort of order cus thats just ridiculous the boy looked younger than a high school kid think it was named clavitos something like that probably heard the last of that
