Cain Velasquez will spend five years in prison for trying to shoot the man who allegedly molested his son — while that accused predator walked free the same week he was booked, no ankle monitor, no supervision.
The former UFC heavyweight champion's case isn't an argument for vigilantism. It's an indictment of every institution that failed a child and then punished the father who refused to accept that failure.
In an interview on the Shawn Ryan Show, Velasquez described the night his son disclosed the abuse at his daycare. "He tells me things that are happening to him," Velasquez said. His son said it had been going on "for a while."
The family did what you're supposed to do. They reported it. They called the authorities. The suspect, Harry Goularte, was booked — and released by Friday of the same week. No ankle monitor. No restrictions. The daycare, run out of a house by Goularte's family, wasn't shut down. The owner, Patty Goularte — Goularte's mother — sent a mass email calling the allegations false and announcing they'd stay open. She left the Velasquez family on the distribution list.
"Just seeing my son and seeing all the traumas now come out because he's disclosed this. Seeing that hurt in him, breaking down crying," Velasquez said. "I f*cking lost a will to live."
Velasquez said he believed the daycare operators were complicit, that Goularte "would go in during the daycare, hang out with the kids, and then take them to the bathroom" while the adults who ran it let it happen. He also said community members knew about Goularte's alleged behavior and did nothing. Later information, he said, suggested "the dad has been doing it forever."
On Feb. 28, 2022, Velasquez chased Goularte's vehicle at high speed in Santa Clara County and fired at it. In August 2024, he pleaded no-contest to attempted murder and other charges. He was sentenced to five years, released on parole in February 2026 after credit for time served and house arrest.
The system moved with urgency to punish Velasquez. It showed none when a child was violated.
Consider the contrast reported by the New York Post this month: in Indiana, a father and son — Dairus Thompson II and III — are charged with gunning down high school football standout Christopher Wilson Jr. in a drive-by over a personal beef, targeting the wrong person entirely. Charging documents obtained by Fox 59 say the elder Thompson gave his 17-year-old "step-by-step instructions" on conducting the shooting. An innocent teenager is dead over a grudge — and a father taught his child to kill.
Two fathers. Two acts of gun violence. One snapped after institutions failed his son. The other coached his teenager to murder a stranger. The justice system treated the desperate father as the problem worth locking up fast.
The question isn't whether Velasquez was right to chase an alleged child molester with a gun. The question is why a system that exists to protect children made a father feel that was his only option — and why that same system was so much more efficient at locking him up than keeping a predator away from kids.
