Mario Andrew Edwards
Santa Barbara – It was in the middle of the evening on April 2nd when Santa Barbara Police Department’s 911 Dispatch received a call alerting police to what SBPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Riley Harwood referenced as “a domestic disturbance” at a downtown neighborhood condominium complex.
Responding black-and-white patrol unit officers made contact with an adult female and her 2-year-old child who informed them that Mario Andrew Edwards, 42, was inside their apartment and had “barricaded himself” in the unit.
Undoubtedly proceeding with all due caution, officers summoned additional police units to the condominium and shortly thereafter the street was filled with deputies from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, K-9 units, and the SBPD’s own “armored Bearcat vehicle.”
Accompanying this formidable display of law enforcement resources, the SBPD SWAT team and a “crisis negotiation team” soon arrived on the scene.
Over the next three hours, according to Harwood, “the crisis negotiators spoke with Edwards,” while nearby residential occupants of the condo complex were quietly evacuated over concerns for the apparent potential for violence.
The negotiators were apparently skilled in dealing with such situations, as the conversation with Edwards was so compelling that Edwards revealed himself just after midnight, exiting the residential unit without further incident.
Once outside the apartment, Edwards was summarily taken into custody and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on charges of domestic violence, making terrorist threats, resisting arrest, and child endangerment.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
