Photo: Roberto Buenaventura
Santa Barbara – His brandished machete led to a standoff. When 24-year-old Santa Barbara resident Roberto Buenaventura gets into a street fight, he doesn’t mess around.
Proof of that came just after noon on Sunday, July 22. Santa Barbara Police Combined Communications center received multiple calls reporting a fight in progress on a downtown city street.
According to SBPD spokesman Sgt. Riley Harwood, witnesses reported that “one of the men was armed with a two-foot machete in one hand. He had a baseball bat in the other.”
It didn’t take SBPD officers long to respond the the scene, their arrival immediately bringing the battle to an end and sending Buenaventura fleeing into a nearby apartment complex. Once inside an apartment unit, Buenaventura “barricaded himself inside.”
Then, patrol units established a secure perimeter around the apartment complex. Witness statements on the scene at that time identified Buenaventura. A quick records check indicated that he was a wanted parole violator with a “felony assault warrant” in his name pursuant to a previous altercation.
Nearly two hours later, officers attached to the SBPD Special Weapons and Tactics and Crisis Negotiations Response teams arrived at the scene. While officers established communication with Buenaventura, they evacuated nearby residents and ordered others to shelter in place.
Some four hours after the initial incident, Buenaventura surrendered to SWAT officers who took him into custody “without the need for force.” He was then transported to Santa Barbara County Jail where he remains in custody on charges of felony use of a weapon, being a known felon participating in a criminal street gang, disturbing the peace, and multiple parole violations.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
