UFC Fighter Cain Velasquez Facing 10 Charges, Including Attempted Murder, After Shooting At Alleged Child Molester

Cain Velasquez with a white shirt

Former UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez has officially been charged and booked with attempted murder, according to CBS San Francisco.

The former UFC and WWE star was charged with attempted murder, along with numerous other crimes after he hunted down 43-year-old Harry Goularte in his car on Monday.

Goularte was recently charged with molesting a young relative of Velasquez at a child care facility ran by his wife. Goularte apparently lived at the facility, but didn’t work there. The facility oversees the care of 20 kids, including the relative of Velasquez.

After an 11-mile chase, he ran into the side of the Chevy Silverado and began firing, but missed Goularte and hit his stepfather. Goularte’s mother was also in the car.

The wounded was taken to the hospital to treat non life-threatening injuries.

Velasquez faces one count of attempted murder, one count shooting at occupied vehicle, three counts of assault with firearm, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, willfully discharging firearm from a vehicle, and carrying a loaded firearm with intent to commit felony.

Many people showed up to the trial in support of Velasquez, with one person saying:

“I don’t blame him, I 100% don’t blame him. What Cain did, he had to take matters into his own hands.”

Prosecuting attorney Aaron French disagreed:

“What he did was put the public in danger.”

Paula Canny, a criminal defense attorney, legal analyst and long-time former deputy district attorney, agreed with French:

“I don’t want even mixed martial arts fighters who are champions to get to go around and fire guns in public places and take the law into his own hands; it’s horrifying, it’s frightening.

There is no defense for vigilante justice, and that’s probably a good thing. Otherwise, the whole system would devolve into vigilantism. There is no defense of ‘I was so mad, I had to do it.'”

Velasquez was booked into the Santa Clara County main jail and held without bail.

Goularte was also released without bail as part of the “Supervised Own Recognizance Program (SORP).”

Santa Clara County Assistant District Attorney Angela Bernhard weighed in on the outcome:

“The court disagreed with us and agreed that he could be released without bail. That was not a decision that we agreed with. But it is a decision that we respect.

We respect the judge’s decision in that case. We do not believe that that justified the conduct in this case, particularly given how reckless it was and how much it endangered the general public.”

A beer bottle on a dock

STAY ENTERTAINED

A RIFF ON WHAT COUNTRY IS REALLY ABOUT

A beer bottle on a dock