Former UFC Champion Cain Velasquez Facing Attempted Murder, Among Numerous Charges

Content Warning: This article mentions sexual assault

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez made his first court appearance Wednesday for a criminal case that has numerous charges, including attempted murder, involved.

Velasquez, 39, appeared for his arraignment in San Jose, California, USA. The hearing, which didn’t conclude, is set to continue on Monday, where he will either be granted or denied bail.

Velasquez has been charged with one count of attempted murder, shooting at an occupied motor vehicle or aircraft, willfully discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and carrying a loaded firearm with intent to commit a felony. Along with this, he was given three counts of assault with a firearm and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

The charges relate to an alleged incident that took place on Monday evening, per a release from the Office of the District Attorney for the County of Santa Clara. Velasquez was allegedly targeting Harry Goularte, someone who was recently released without bail for allegedly molesting an underage relative of Velasquez.

Velasquez allegedly got into an “11-mile, high speed chase” with a vehicle that carried Goularte and two family members of his. This chase allegedly concluded when Velasquez “rammed” his vehicle into his target and fired a handgun multiple times.

A relative of Goularte was struck by a gunshot and hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

San Jose District Attorney Jeff Rosen claimed that Velasquez “chose to take law into his own hands” in this incident, “endangering the public and everyone in the truck.”

Court documents obtained by Marc Raimondi of ESPN show that Goularte, the alleged target of Velasquez, was charged last month with “a lewd or lascivious act upon a child under age 14.”

Court documents allege that Goularte sexually assaulted a child under the age of 10 in the washroom of a daycare center. The child claimed that Goularte did this to him “100 times.”

Velasquez fought as a pro in the UFC from 2008 to 2019. He has spent more recent years of his life competing in pro wrestling.