KING CITY—Monterey County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Salinas resident 24-year-old Antonio Laguna on domestic violence charges after he forcefully held four adults and four children against their will with a gun at a King City motel on Saturday night, July 18.
By early Sunday morning, shortly after midnight, Deputies from the King City Substation of the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office responded to the domestic dispute incident that was occurring at the Motel 6 on Broadway Circle that involved a man pointing a gun.
When deputies arrived on scene they could hear screaming and yelling coming from the rear of the Motel after they entered the parking lot. When deputies located the room where the screaming was coming from, they witnessed Laguna, who was carrying a handgun, tried to push his way into the bathroom in the room.
Apparently, four adults and four children who were trying to get away from Laguna had barricaded themselves inside the bathroom. The deputies could see that he was holding a double barrel Derringer Colt .45 caliber handgun as he forced his way into the bathroom.
The Motel 6 on Broadway Circle in King City
Deputies made contact with the suspect and took him into custody before he could injure any of the victims in the bathroom. Deputies also learned that Laguna was on felony probation and had been served a criminal protection order.
The suspect had been arrested in the past on domestic violence incidents and other violent crimes. He was charged on April 15 with inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or co-habitant, and cruelty to a child inflicting injury. He was also charged with violating probation. Records show he was also arrested on New Years Day in 2013 for public intoxication and resisting arrest.
Antonio Laguna was arrested at the scene and took the one hour journey to Salinas to be booked into the Monterey County Jail.
