Arrest made after bird store owner shot in face with crossbow in Saddle Brook

By WABC Staff

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    SADDLE BROOK, New Jersey (WABC) — A man is under arrest after the owner of a bird store in New Jersey was shot in the face with a crossbow.

Police responded to Birds by Joe 2 on Route 46 East in Saddle Brook on Monday just before 6 p.m.

The victim, named Katarina, had come to the store to feed the birds when she was attacked.

Authorities arrested 53-year-old Raymond Carey on Tuesday on multiple charges, including attempted murder.

The assault left Katarina with a wound to her jaw and knocked out a tooth, but she was back at the shop on Tuesday, accompanied by friends, to care for the birds.

She did not want to speak but one of her friends told Eyewitness News that she is traumatized and that her attacker was not a complete stranger.

“She said he comes every other week, to get seeds and other stuff, so we don’t know why he did it,” said friend Deniz Taskin.

The business is the same one that made headlines weeks ago after someone stole a $7,000 African Grey Parrot last month.

Police are still looking for 24-year-old Onyx Calderon in connection to the crime. The bird was later recovered in Paterson.

Katarina said she has no reason to believe the crimes were related.

After the attack, shop owners in the area are looking to keep an even closer eye on one another.

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