A man was arrested after he was accused of “randomly shooting” and killing 81 animals in a three-hour span, California deputies say.
Multiple 911 calls about shots being fired came into the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office at about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 3, deputies said in a Facebook post.
When deputies arrived and they heard “shots continuing to be fired,” prompting them to issue a shelter in place for the surrounding area, the sheriff’s office said.
As the area “was extremely dark and covered in thick vegetation,” deputies said it was hard to discern where the shooter was located.
Using a drone, authorities spotted a suspect and crashed vehicle in a vineyard, deputies said.
Members of the sheriff’s office S.W.A.T. team approached the suspect, identified as Vicente Joseph Arroyo, 39, and took him into custody, deputies said.
Arroyo lived on the property where “the animals were kept in a variety of cages and enclosures,” Cmdr. Andres Rosas, a sheriff’s office spokesperson, told The Los Angeles Times.
Deputies searched the area and found that Arroyo had killed 81 animals, “including miniature horses, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, ducks and other types of birds,” the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies said they recovered multiple guns on scene, “along with numerous loaded and empty magazines.”
Arroyo was booked into jail on a slew of charges, including willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, cruelty to animals, illegal possession of assault weapon, and criminal threats, according to deputies.
His bail was set at $50,000 but then raised to $1,000,000 after deputies searched his home, the sheriff’s office said in a Sept. 4 Facebook post.
While serving a search warrant at Arroyo’s home, deputies found seven more firearms and ammunition, the sheriff’s office said.
In total, the sheriff’s office said it seized 15 firearms and ammunition totaling “near or above 2,000 rounds.”
“I am confident that we have prevented another tragedy from happening in the future,” Sheriff Tina Nieto said of the weapon and ammo seizure, according to the post.
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