January 21, 2022 – Santa Barbara, Ca.
On the evening of September 22, 2021, a Westside neighborhood was rocked by the sounds of gunfire as a 16-year-old teen was gunned down and left with serious injuries.
According to Santa Barbara Police Department spokesman Sgt. Ethan Ragsdale, the victim “was not affiliated with any gangs” and was targeted purely as “a random act of violence.”
Following an extensive investigation over the ensuing four months, SBPD detectives identified 26-year-old Santa Barbara resident Antonio S. Aguayo as the prime suspect and 22-year-old Santa Barbara resident Nicolas H. Fairbanks as Aguayo’s “alleged accomplice and get-away driver.”
Arrest warrants were issued and the hunt for the two suspects began in earnest. When Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s patrol units responded to “an unrelated battery call” in the City of Goleta on the afternoon of January 17 th , they made contact with Aguayo and quickly determined that he was “the subject of felony warrant,” whereupon he was immediately taken into custody.
SBPD detectives located Fairbanks on a downtown Santa Barbara street shortly thereafter and arrested him at the scene.
Both Fairbanks and Aguayo were transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where Aguayo and Fairbanks were each booked on charges of attempted murder with gang enhancements, illegal possession of loaded firearm, and use of a firearm causing great bodily injury with their bail set at $1.1million each.
