A Visalia man was sentenced Tuesday to 54 years to life in prison for attempted murder and assault.

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. – Visalia resident Joshua Lee Arnold was sentenced to 54 years to life in prison for attempted murder and assault with a handgun during a crime spree, according to the district attorney's office of SLO County.

Arnold pleaded no contest to three counts of attempted murder with deliberation and premeditation, as well as two counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm on April 9 of this year, the SLO County Prosecutor's Office explained.

The 42-year-old man also admitted to using a firearm in the attempted murders while inflicting serious injuries on two of the three attempted murder victims, the SLO County Prosecutor's Office detailed.

The Visalia man also admitted to a 2016 felony count of domestic violence resulting in serious bodily injury, part of the state's three-strikes policy, with each plea stemming from a crime spree on Aug. 17, 2023, according to the SLO County District Attorney's Office.

This spree occurred when Arnold attempted to rob a 7-Eleven store in Grover Beach on the aforementioned date at 1 p.m., where he shot an employee who suffered a single gunshot wound to the neck, detailed the SLO County District Attorney's Office.

The employee was taken to the hospital, but not before helping authorities with surveillance footage revealing Arnold's identity, according to the SLO County Prosecutor's Office.

Arnold then stole cigarettes from the Kachi Smoke Shop in Nipomo about an hour later without using a gun at 1:50 p.m., then attempted to carjack a Ford Mustang at 3:30 p.m. near the Panda Express in Froom's parking lot Ranch in the city of San Luis Obispo, explained the SLO County District Attorney's Office.

The Vitalia man confronted a 50-year-old San Luis Obispo resident and his 19-year-old son during an attempted carjacking when the father tried to flee before being shot by Arnold, according to the SLO County District Attorney's Office.

The 19-year-old man was shot in the back and taken to hospital before Arnold fled the scene and officers located him about half an hour later where they were arrested for his various crimes in the San Luis Ranch neighborhood, detailed the SLO County Prosecutor's Office.

Multiple SLO County agencies assisted in the criminal investigations and Arnold will be transported to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to begin serving his sentence, the SLO County Prosecutor's Office explained.