Man arrested in connection to California ‘Projectile Alley’ attacks, authorities say
Authorities say the man suspected of terrorizing Central Coast motorists used a slingshot and marbles to wage a nearly year-long spree of projectile attacks that hurt five people and left scores more shaken.
Charles Kenneth Lafferty faces 21 felony charges connected to 68 attacks along freeways in Monterey and San Benito counties, California Highway Patrol officials announced at an afternoon news conference Thursday in Salinas.
CHP officers on Wednesday arrested Lafferty on suspicion of throwing objects at motor vehicles, felony assault with a deadly weapon and felony possession of a silencer. Lafferty, 53, is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail in Monterey County Jail in Salinas.
Officials at the conference say Lafferty fired glass marbles from a slingshot, shattering the windows of passing cars along U.S. Highway 101 and state Highway 156 near Prunedale – a stretch that came to be known as “Projectile Alley.”
For months, the attacks were a mystery, as motorists were unsuspecting targets of seemingly random acts. Four adults and a child were injured by shattered glass during the spree. The CHP assembled a task force to work full time on the case while trying to calm increasingly unnerved drivers.
But for some, including Rosemary Anaya of Hollister, fear had already taken hold.
“We’re scared to get on the highway,” Anaya told San Francisco television station KPIX in November after a rash of attacks that month.
Authorities on Thursday said they were in a rush against time, afraid the next attack would have far more serious consequences.
The final attack happened weeks ago, at 8 p.m. Jan. 5, on 101 near Dumbarton Road. The target was a sport utility vehicle. A projectile shattered one of the SUV’s windows, but the driver escaped injury.
“We want to reassure the public that our task force, as well as our patrol officers, are diligently working on this investigation each day; it remains our top priority as we continue to focus on public safety,” California Highway Patrol Capt. Kyle Foster said in a Jan. 6 Facebook post. “We are following up on [numerous] leads each day. This investigation has been long and arduous, but we are hopeful we will be able [to] bring it to a close soon.”
Their break came in the days after that final incident, authorities said Thursday.
A GMC Sonoma pickup spotted near the scene that night was tied to several earlier incidents and later to Lafferty. Search warrants were issued for spots in Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties leading to Lafferty’s arrest Wednesday.
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