‘Regular customer’ charged with shooting NJ pet shop owner in face

🔴 A man has been arrested in a North Jersey pet shop crossbow attack

🔴 He was found in Ocean County

🔴 He has no ties to a parrot theft at the same shop, victim says

SADDLE BROOK — Police arrest a suspect charged with shooting a pet shop owner in the face with a crossbow on Monday night.

It was the pet shop's second crime recently investigated by police, who are still looking for a suspect wanted on charges of stealing a parrot $7,000 parrot. The two incidents do not appear to be related.

In the attack case, Raymond Carey, 53, of Hasbrouck Heights, was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted murder.

On Feb. 17, just before 6 p.m., the Saddle Brook Police Department responded to a 911 call reporting a woman seriously injured at the store,  Birds by Joe 2 at 104-106 Route 46 East

Officers found the owner, identified by the New York Post as Katarina Rukavishnikova, with a crossbow arrow wound in her face.

The victim was hospitalized with serious injuries but she survived and went back to work on Tuesday, NJ.com reported.

Rukavishnikova told investigators that Carey is a regular customer. He came into the shop and without warning shot her with the crossbow. After being shot, she was able to disarm the weapon from the suspect. Carey fled the scene after stealing a car parked outside the pet shop.

A manhunt for Carey began.

With the help of detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the Saddle Brook Police Department, the FBI, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s office, and the Manchester Township Police Department, Carey was found on Tuesday, Feb. 18 just before 1 p.m. in Pine Beach, Ocean County.

He was charged with first-degree attempted murder, third-degree possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, and fourth-degree obstructing the administration of law.
Carey was taken to the Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack where he awaits a court appearance.

The crossbow attack occurred at the same pet shop where a $7,000 African gray parrot was stolen a few weeks ago. The suspect in that case, identified as Onyx Calderon, 24 of Passaic, has not yet been caught. The parrot was located in Paterson and safely returned to Birds by Joe 2.

But Rukavishnikova told NJ.com that Carey had nothing to do with the bird theft.

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