Santa Barbara – UCSB—with a recent history of mob violence, rampaging mass-shootings, residential burglaries, sexual assaults, illicit drug sales, and general mayhem both on and off campus—continues to be a hotbed of law enforcement interest and administrative upheaval with the recently announced retirement of the school’s chancellor and a radically heightened police presence as demonstrated by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Isla Vista Foot Patrol’s increased staffing and installation of hundreds of surveillance cameras throughout the community.
All that said, the violence appears to continue unabated as evidenced by the January 24th arrest of Kevin Ruiz, 18, pursuant to a multi-party street fight observed by a University of California Police Department patrol lieutenant just steps away from the UCSB campus. According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, the UCPD officer spotted “four subjects who were covered in blood” fighting in front of the Sigma Chi Omega fraternity house. When the officer made his presence known, the four bloody guys attempted to flee the scene but were summarily detained by SBSD deputies arriving as backup.
Immediately conducting a field investigation, a 21-year old UCSB student was found inside the fraternity house suffering from multiple stab wounds to his chest and head. While he was promptly transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for immediate medical attention, deputies soon determined that Ruiz—one of those four detained at the outset and discovered to be suffering from minor wounds on his hands himself—was the party responsible for the victim’s wounds. Ruiz was arrested on the scene and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail where he was booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, with his bail set at $30,000.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
Read more:
NBC4: 18-year-old arrested after fight
Daily Nexus: Police arrest suspect in stabbing
Independent: Stabbing in Isla Vista
