Heavily armed man killed 81 animals, including ponies, goats and ducks: police

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man suspected of going on a three-hour rampage in Northern California, killing 81 animals, including miniature horses, goats and chickens, has pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty and other charges.

Vicente Arroyo, 39, made his first court appearance Thursday after being arrested by Monterey County sheriff's officers earlier this week on charges of firing multiple weapons at the animals housed in pens and cages on a property in the small community of Prunedale.

The animal owners did not wish to be identified or speak to the media, Monterey County Sheriff Andres Rosas told the Associated Press on Friday.

“I went 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 property where the animals were housed, and the other 80 belonged to someone who had leased the land to house his 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 accused of killing a pony named Lucky and two miniature horses named Estrella and Princessa, KSBW-TV reported.

Some animals survived the hours-long shooting but had to be euthanized due to the severity of their injuries, Rosas said.

Rosas said Arroyo lived in a mobile home on a vineyard next to the property where the animals were kept. The motive is not yet known.

His lawyer, William Pernik, said that after discussions with Arroyo and his family, he had doubts about his client's mental competence and asked the judge for a psychiatric evaluation.

“We are dealing with an individual who is facing very serious allegations and who does not appear to be in the right state of mind to understand the proceedings against him,” Pernik said.

Pernik said Arroyo's family had turned to various government agencies to get help for him, but “unfortunately, he did not receive this mental health help in time before this tragic incident.”

The judge ordered Arroyo, who is being held on $1 million bail, to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

The court will receive an update on Arroyo's mental state in two weeks, Pernik said.

Authorities received several 911 calls around 3:25 a.m. Tuesday reporting gunshots in Prunedale, a community about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from the city of Salinas, he said.

When officers arrived on the scene, they could hear gunshots and were ordered to seek shelter within a five-mile radius.

Members of the Monterey County SWAT team were dispatched and the sheriff's office also requested drone support from the nearby Seaside Fire Department and Gonzales Police Department, Rosas said.

Officers in an armored vehicle arrested Arroyo without incident, he said.

Officers found a crashed pickup truck and recovered eight firearms from the scene, including long rifles, shotguns and handguns. After executing a search warrant on Arroyo's mobile home, they found seven more firearms, including an illegal AK-47 assault rifle, two ghost guns and about 2,000 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, Rosas said.

Prosecutors filed dozens of charges against Arroyo, including cruelty to animals, intentional discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, illegal possession of an assault weapon, vandalism, drug possession, and criminal threatening and terrorizing in possession of a firearm as a felon.

“I am confident that this is the most horrific case of animal cruelty we have ever seen in this county,” Assistant District Attorney Berkley Brannon told KSBW-TV after Thursday's hearing.