Turlock suspect in shooting of CHP officers appears in court; mother describes ‘nice boy’
The Turlock man suspected of shooting at two California Highway Patrol officers last week was charged Monday with attempted murder.
Henry Moreno Arroyo, 40, appeared Monday afternoon in Stanislaus County Superior Court. His arraignment was moved to Dec. 27 as Arroyo and his family work to hire a private defense attorney.
Arroyo remains in custody at the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center with his bail set at $1.45 million.
The CHP officers are Timothy Fautt and Anthony Palazuelos. Arroyo is charged in the attempted murder of each officer, according to his criminal complaint. Turlock police have said one of the officers was wounded in the Thursday evening shooting.
The name of the officer who was wounded was not available Monday, but District Attorney’s Office spokesman John Goold said in an email that the officer sustained “a grazing wound, and he was medically cleared that same night; (he is) not hospitalized now.”
Fautt and Palazuelos are assigned to the CHP’s Central Division in Fresno. The division covers the San Joaquin Valley and surrounding foothills from Modesto to the Grapevine.
The two officers are assigned to the Stanislaus County Auto Theft Task Force, said Officer Pieter Peruch, a spokesman with the CHP’s Central Division.
Turlock police have reported the CHP officers were investigating a freeway shooting that took place Wednesday of last week. They were in the 600 block of High Street, near Columbia Park on Turlock’s west side, around 5:30 p.m. Thursday when they were shot at.
Turlock police reported that the CHP officers had found what they believed to be the vehicle involved in the freeway shooting. As they approached the vehicle, a man began shooting at them. The officers returned fire, and the shooter ran away.
The officers captured the suspect. Authorities initially said a second person fired upon the CHP officers, but later said there was only one shooter.
Public and court records show Arroyo lives in the 600 block of High Street.
His mother, Gloria, said in Monday phone interview that she was shocked when she learned her son had been arrested. “I cannot believe that,” she said. “Not because he’s my boy, but he’s a nice boy. He helps anybody out. There is no way my boy would do something like that.”
Gloria Arroyo said her son is a single dad and works as a forklift operator.
The criminal complaint says Henry Arroyo faces an enhancement because he was out on bail during Thursday’s shooting in a prior felony case. Stanislaus County prosecutors charged him in October 2020 with what Monday’s complaint called “permit(ing) (a) child to suffer under circumstances likely to cause great bodily injury or death.”
Authorities as of Monday had not released details about the Wednesday freeway shooting the CHP was investigating, including where it happened, if people and/or vehicles were struck, and any apparent motive.
This story was originally published December 20, 2021 at 4:43 PM.
