Photo: Cyrus Rocky McClain
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY — An hour before midnight on February 23rd, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Deputies and officers of the UCSB Police Department working out of the Isla Vista Foot Patrol station received a 911 Emergency notice of an assault and stabbing taking place on the main thoroughfare of downtown Isla Vista.
According to SBSD Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, upon arrival “they found that the suspect had fled the area” and discovered a 24-year-old UCSB coed suffering from a stab wound in her pelvis. While the victim was being transported by ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, “an extensive search of the area” began which failed to turn up a viable suspect.
The subsequent investigation and interviews with the reporting witnesses pointed to “a college-aged black male adult with dreadlocks wearing a black sweatshirt” who it was believed had been involved in “an altercation” with the victim. Working with that description throughout the early morning hours of February 24th, and through the service of multiple search warrants, 19-year-old Cyrus Rocky McClain, a resident of Isla Vista, was identified and contacted.
Further investigation indicated that McClain had been involved in a fight with the victim’s boyfriend and not the victim herself when he was “found trespassing” on the victim’s private property. Once he was taken into custody, McClain was arrested and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and bodily harm inflicted while committing a felony. He currently remains in custody on $350,000 bail.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
