UFC Champion Cain Velasquez Was Arrested for Allegedly Trying To Shoot a Man Accused of Molesting His Relative
Mixed Martial Artist and UFC champion Cain Velasquez was arrested on Monday on suspicion of attempted murder after he allegedly shot a 43-year-old man who was charged with molesting Velasquez’s underage relative.
The incident happened Monday afternoon when Velasquez allegedly opened fire on a car at a San José intersection. Inside the car was Harry Eugene Goularte, the man accused of molesting Velasquez’s relative, and several members of his family.
While Velasquez did not shoot Goularte, he allegedly shot Goularte’s stepfather, who was in the car with him. According to The Mercury News, the man hit by the bullet is expected to survive.
The incident comes after Goularte, who lives in an at-home daycare run by his mother, was charged with one felony count of “lewd and lascivious battery” with a child under the age of 14. Despite the charges and the opposition of the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, the alleged child molester was granted supervised release last Friday.
Police are still investigating the motives and circumstances of the shooting according to a statement released by the San José Police Department on Twitter.
Velasquez retired from MMA in 2019, but had quite a career becoming UFC heavyweight champion in 2010 and 2012 (and 2012 to 2015), making him the first fighter of Mexican descent to do so.
Given the fame that Velasquez has gained over his career, the shooting has left many fans shocked with some on Twitter even calling for his release because of the circumstances of the incident.
Yet the news has touched those who trained alongside Velasquez at the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San José, a gym he helped lift to international fame as his career took off. Some of those training at the gym told The Mercury News that he was a sweet coach, appearing surprised by the incident.
“We’re all fighters, and I know that what you see on television is us beating people up,” Amador Rosales from AKA told The Mercury News.
“But we’re humble… and Cain Velasquez has always been a humble guy, in defeat and victory. I’ve never seen him once in my entire life here ever throw a fit… not once a tantrum, nothing. He’s not an angry guy at all.”