A California man has been arrested after reportedly indiscriminately shooting and murdering over 80 animals in a vineyard.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office began getting calls about shots fired shortly before 3:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 16000 block of Avery Lane. Deputies went to the location after hearing shots, but due to the darkness and dense vegetation, they were unable to locate the shooter. They issued a shelter-in-place order to adjacent residents and used a drone to locate the suspect and an alleged crashed vehicle.
Monterey County SWAT officers approached the suspect in an armored truck and arrested 39-year-old Vicente Joseph Arroyo of Salinas. Police examined the area and discovered 81 dead or near-death animals, including miniature horses, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, and various birds. The animals that survived were transferred to a veterinarian clinic and euthanized due to their severe injuries, according to deputies.
Authorities also seized many long rifles, shotguns, and handguns, as well as an illegal assault weapon and several empty and filled magazines, according to police. Arroyo was first charged with willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, cruelty to animals, illegal possession of an assault weapon, felon in possession of a firearm, and other offenses. His bond amount was set at $50,000.
However, when officers executed a search order at his residence, they allegedly discovered seven more firearms, including an unserialized firearm known as a ghost gun. They also reportedly discovered over 2,000 rounds of ammo. The bail was upped to $1 million.
“It is without a doubt that the warrant served by our deputies and detectives, which 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.”