Cain Velasquez faces attempted murder charge for alleged shooting incident in San Jose

Cain Velasquez has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after an alleged shooting incident that occurred Monday afternoon in San Jose, Calif., according to an official statement from the San Jose Police Department’s s media relations team Tuesday morning.

The statement reads as follows:

Cain Velasquez was the suspect arrested yesterday in connection with this incident. He was booked into Santa Clara County main jail for attempted murder.

The motive and circumstances surrounding this incident are still under investigation at this time.

According to online records, former UFC heavyweight champion Velasquez was being held without bail at the Santa Clara County Jail. NBC Bay Area first reported his alleged involvement in the incident, with TMZ first reporting the charges on Tuesday.

Velasquez is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Initially, San Jose Police confirmed a shooting took place Monday but did not identify the suspect taken into custody or the victim, who was transported to a local hospital following the incident.

“Units are currently at the scene of a shooting near the intersection of Monterey Hwy and Bailey Ave,” San Jose Police said on the department’s official Twitter account.

“One adult male shot at least once transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. One suspect in custody. Unknown motive or circumstances.”

Velasquez, 39, is widely recognized as one of the top heavyweight fighters in UFC history following multiple title reigns in the promotion.

Unfortunately for Velasquez, much of his career was marred by injuries. He last competed in February 2019, when he suffered a first-round knockout loss to future UFC champion Francis Ngannou. Nine months after that defeat, Velasquez announced his retirement from mixed martial arts while also planning a full-time move into professional wrestling.

After a brief stint in the WWE, Velasquez has been working with AAA, a Mexico-based professional wrestling promotion.