Prunedale Man Arrested For Attempted Murder

The man’s goat was also a target

PRUNEDALE—An 87-year-year-old Prunedale resident was arrested on New Year’s Day after pellets from his discharged gun hit his neighbor and his goat.

Philip Dexter

On January 1 at 6:20 p.m., Deputy Lopez from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department responded to a home on the 16000 block of Avery Lane on a disturbance call.

Upon his arrival, Deputy Lopez found Cesario Diaz suffering from apparent gun shot wound to his upper torso and knee.  After an initial investigation, deputies from the Sheriff’s Department determined that the wounds were caused from his neighbor, 87-year-old Phillip Dexter, who had discharged a shot gun in the area.

Diaz was transported to Natividad Medical Center in Salinas for treatment for his injuries, although they were non-life threatening. Diaz had two pellet wounds to his left rib cage and one to his right elbow and another pellet wound to his knee.

A pellet from the 1912 Winchester 16 gauge pump action shotgun that Dexter had discharged also injured one of Diaz’s goats.  It is still unclear whether the two neighbors were in some sort of a dispute when this incident occurred.

“This was not a domestic dispute between neighbors,” Monterey County Sheriff’s Sergeant Ken Anderson said. “It appears that Mr. Dexter was just trying to startle some goats off his property that were being attended to by Mr. Diaz.”

Dexter was arrested and charged with attempted murder. He was transported to the Monterey County Jail.  The Monterey County Sheriff’s Department is encouraging anyone that has information about this incident to call 888-833-4847.

UPDATE – On January 4th charges against Philip Dexter were reduced to reckless discharge of a firearm and cruelty to animals.

Read More:
KSBW: 85-Year-old Prunedale Man Accused of Attempted Murder

Santa Cruz Sentinel: Charges Reduced for Prunedale Man Accused of Shooting Goatherd and Goat