Former UFC heavyweight champion Kane Velazquez has been arrested for trying to shoot a man accused of harassing one of the fighter’s close relatives, it became clear on Tuesday.
Velázquez was aiming to shoot Harry Eugene Goularte when he opened fire on a car occupied by Goularte and two others on Monday, according to The Denver Post.
Instead, the bullet is said to have struck Goularte’s stepfather.
Goularte, 43, was charged Friday with fornication and lewd acts with a child under the age of 14, the newspaper reported.
Goularte’s prosecutor is a relative of Velazquez, the newspaper said, citing court records and sources. The child was abused by Gularte at his mother’s day center, where the suspect also lived, according to the report.
The alleged sex abuser was released under supervision, despite the objections of California prosecutors, the newspaper writes.
Velazquez, 39, is charged with attempted murder. The man he shot was expected to survive, police said as they released a photo of the retired MMA fighter looking smug and content.
Velazquez was held behind bars without bail and was reportedly due on Wednesday.
“We’re all fighters and I know what you see on TV is that we beat people,” said Amador Rosales, a fighter at the American Kickboxing Academy, the gym where the Mexican trains and trains.
“But we are humble,” and Cain Velázquez has always been a humble man, in defeat and victory. I’ve never seen him here in my whole life, to faint ever – not once hysterical, nothing. He is not an angry man at all. “