Man shot by police to face charges

SALINAS >> Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni announced Tuesday Sergio Contreras Villanueva will be charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon on officers, exhibiting a deadly weapon and hit-and-run after he was shot by police last month while thrusting a spear-like object at officers near Laurel Heights Park.

According to the DA’s Office, the Salinas Police Department received a 911 call at 8:03 p.m. Dec. 29, 2019, reporting that a vehicle had crashed through a residential fence bordering Laurel Heights Park and hit the rear of an occupied home on North Madeira Avenue. The vehicle and home immediately caught fire.

Witnesses reported seeing a man, who the DA’s Office said was later identified as 34-year-old Villanueva, holding a knife and a 3-foot metal pole in the backyard of the residence and walking eastbound along the fence line of the park away from the scene. His whereabouts were unknown to responding officers until a second 911 call came in at 8:13 p.m. reporting that someone was trying to break into the back door of their residence, three houses down from the scene of the fire.

Salinas police officers David Pucket and Jordy Urrutia arrived at the second residence to search for an intruder. At 8:19 p.m., Pucket and Urrutia made their way toward the backyard of the residence via a narrow side yard between the home and a wooden fence.

When the officers entered the backyard, the DA’s Office says Villanueva confronted them, hold a spear-like weapon that was about 4-feet long with two pointed ends. As the officers retreated backward, distancing themselves from Villanueva, the DA’s Office says Villanueva continued to rapidly charge forward at them and pointed a sharp end of the weapon at them and thrust it toward them.

Confined in a narrow alley between the house and the fence, Pucket and Urrutia each fired six shots at Villanueva and struck him multiple times, the DA’s Office said. Emergency personnel transported Villanueva to Natividad hospital for treatment of his injuries.

The DA’s Office said no arraignment is scheduled due to Villanueva’s injuries.