Photo: Stock Image
As this report is being filed, “alerts” have just been broadcast throughout the Goleta area announcing yet another campus shutdown at San Marcos High School as Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department patrol unit are responding to yet another stabbing incident.
Today’s stabbing—details are still coming in and are not verified at this time—may just be an isolated incident or it may be connected to rumors of a percolating turf war among juvenile gangs operating in the Goleta area. Those rumors surfaced once again with the February 29th arrest of an individual described by SBSD Public Information Officer Raquel Zick as “a male juvenile” who matches the description of the assailant responsible for an attack on the afternoon of February 27th at a busy neighborhood shopping center directly across the street from San Marco High.
Responding deputies rolled into the Turnpike Shopping Center at 1:32 p.m. pursuant to a 911 Emergency Call for Service reporting “a fight in progress” in the parking lot. Deputies discovered “a male juvenile victim with a laceration to his hand,” but his assailants had fled the area by then. Witness and victim descriptions sent the deputies on an area-wide manhunt for the suspect.
Exactly one half-hour later, uniformed patrol deputies spotted a 15-year-old male juvenile matching the suspect description. Contact was initiated, whereupon the juvenile was found to be in possession of “a concealed fixed-blade knife.” He was taken into custody, cited for possession of the weapon, and “released to a guardian” with his case forwarded to juvenile probation authorities.
As these things go, further investigation led to an additional suspect in the Turnpike Shopping Center attack, and on the morning of February 29th , a second juvenile was identified and located in the area. Contact with deputies revealed that he was also in possession of a bladed weapon, and he was arrested at the scene. This second juvenile was transported to Santa Maria Juvenile Hall, where he was booked on a charge of attempted murder.
According to Zick, detectives believe there may be “additional juveniles” involved in this most recent stabbing attack and have reached out to the community for any additional information, offering the SBSD Anonymous Tip Line at (805) 681-4100.
