Pellet Gun Panhandler Faces Multiple Felony Charges

Charles Peart Quinn — the man arrested Saturday for shooting two citizens and two deputies with a pellet gun in Goleta — is facing several felony charges including one count of armed robbery, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, and three counts of battery with injury on a peace officer.

Quinn, reports Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Drew Sugars, is still in Cottage Hospital recovering from bullet wounds he sustained when deputies opened fire on him after he refused to drop his weapon and used it against authorities.

Quinn’s gun was described by Sugars as a “CO2 semi-automatic high velocity air gun” that is a replica of a “real semi-automatic handgun and shoots multiple steel .177 caliber projectiles at a velocity in excess of 400 feet per second.”

A registered sex offender in the state of Florida, Quinn has an extensive criminal history with other law enforcement agencies around the country, said Sugars, though he has never been booked into Santa Barbra County Jail.

The three deputies involved in the shooting have been identified as: Deputy Mohsen Amjadi (SBSO deputy 5 years), Deputy Robert Baisa (SBSO deputy 7.5 years), and Deputy Justin DiPinto (SBSO deputy 3.5 years). All three remain on paid administrative leave.

“We follow a process after any officer involved shootings, which are rare,” said Sheriff Bill Brown in a prepared statement. “At this time, all evidence points to the responding deputies taking the appropriate actions to prevent additional serious injuries to more civilians or to themselves.”