By F. Scott Faulkner
Santa Barbara County, CA –
In a rocky start to a three-day holiday weekend, 41-year-old Goleta resident Adam
Unmuth was arrested following a tense standoff with Santa Barbara County sheriff’s
deputies on Saturday, August 31. The incident unfolded in Old Town Goleta at a
housing development on the area’s most heavily-trafficked downtown thoroughfare.
Law enforcement was called to the scene at 8:30 a.m. in response to a reported fight
among residents. Upon arrival, uniformed patrol deputies discovered that Unmuth had
barricaded himself in his third-story apartment after allegedly battering another resident.
The victim, an adult male, sustained serious injuries and was transported to Santa
Barbara Cottage Hospital, where he is expected to recover.
Unmuth, who had returned to the balcony near his apartment, was , according to Santa
Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Raquel Zick, “armed
with a knife” and “agitated and non-compliant.” At that point, deputies and Special
Enforcement Team personnel promptly evacuated other residents from the building and
began their efforts to negotiate with Unmuth.
Two-and-a-half hours later, Unmuth refused to comply with the entreaties of law
enforcement, and a warrant for Unmuth’s arrest was secured. Despite efforts to coax
him into surrendering using a Sheriff’s K9, kinetic projectiles, and chemical agents,
Unmuth remained defiant. Some four hours later, at 12:54 p.m., deputies forced entry
into the apartment and apprehended Unmuth.
Unmuth was transported to Cottage hospital for medical evaluation and will be booked
into the county jail on charges of assault, battery, resisting arrest, and brandishing.
Standoff Ends with Arrest of Assault Suspect was last modified: September 4th, 2024 by
