San Luis Obispo County criminal shooter sentenced to 54 years to life in prison

June 12, 2024

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

A judge sentenced the man who shot two people during a crime spree in San Luis Obispo County last August to 54 years to life in prison.

Joshua Arnold, 42, participated in Visalia's crime spree, including two shootings, a robbery, an attempted carjacking and breaking into an unoccupied residential unit.

On August 17, 2023, around 1 p.m., Arnold attempted to rob the 7-Eleven on Grand Avenue in Grover Beach. When an employee refused to give Arnold money and tried to call 911, the Visalia man shot him in the neck. Arnold also fired a shot that missed the clerk, went through the window of the 7-Eleven and narrowly missed two bystanders outside the store, according to the SLO County Prosecutor's Office.

Emergency responders transported the victim to a local hospital for treatment of a non-life-threatening injury. Despite the employee's injury, he was able to provide police with surveillance footage of the shooting.

Driving a black Ford Mustang, Arnold headed south to Nipomo where he stole cigarettes from the Kachi Smoke Shop. He did not use a gun to steal the cigarettes.

Arnold then drove to SLO, where around 3:30 p.m. he attempted to carjack the driver of another Ford Mustang near the Panda Express in the Froom Ranch Way parking lot. The driver of this Mustang, a 50-year-old San Luis Obispo resident, had just left Panda Express with his 19-year-old son sitting in the front passenger seat.

The SLO resident quickly accelerated in an attempt to flee Arnold. But Arnold fired several rounds into the victims' vehicle with his 9mm handgun. Two bullets entered the car, one of which hit the rear-seat passenger. The driver then transported his son to a local hospital, where he was treated and eventually released.

Arnold fled the scene in his vehicle. Acting on a tip, officers located the suspect near a home on Legacy Avenue in the San Luis Ranch subdivision and took him into custody around 5 p.m.

Police were advised that two other people were inside the residence and may have been armed. Officers secured the area and asked residents to shelter in place. Shortly after 8 p.m., police determined the house was empty. They then recovered Arnold's gun from a nearby model home.

On April 9, 2024, Arnold pleaded no contest to three counts of attempted murder with deliberation and premeditation and two counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm. The Visalia man also admitted to personally using a firearm in committing the three attempted murders and to personally inflicting serious bodily injury on two of the three attempted murder victims. Additionally, Arnold admitted that he had a 2016 conviction for domestic violence resulting in serious bodily injury, a strike under California's three strikes law.

Judge Michael Frye sentenced Arnold to 26 years, plus 28 years to life in prison.