Sheriff Joe Arpaio says that late last night, Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies, responding to an emergency call for service, came across a gruesome scene.
Inside the Citrus Valley Dairy in the far west valley community of Gila Bend, sheriff’s deputies found four (4) dead cows and five (5) other cows severely injured, all by what witnesses described as an ‘out of control’ coworker brandishing a knife. A fellow worker attempted to confront the suspect before deputies arrived but backed off after the suspect lunged at him with knife in hand.
The emergency call came in from workers inside the dairy company at 11PM Sunday, October 4, 2015. When deputies arrived, they encountered the suspect
who was covered in what appeared to be blood and cow feces. Initially, the suspect, Mario Alberto-Garcia Leon, refused to comply with Sheriff’s
deputies orders and barricaded himself inside a break room on the property. When deputies made entry into the break room, Leon further retreated into the bathroom where he remained until Sheriff’s SWAT team members arrived and convinced the man to surrender.
Mario Alberto-Garcia Leon (DOB 8/12/87) was then questioned by deputies and later admitted to using meth and alcohol. He was arrested and booked into the 4th Avenue Jail downtown on several charges of felony criminal damage, destroying 2 Citrus Valley Dairy officials at the scene place the loss to the business at over $22,000. In addition to the four dead cows, the five injured cows, they say, will no longer be able to produce milk.