College Boys Busted for “Shots Fired”
Santa Barbara County – Nobody ever said that life on a college campus wasn’t rowdy, but a pair of UCSB students may have pushed the envelope just after midnight on Saturday, November 17th when Santa Barbara County Sheriff Deputies answered a call of “shots fired” just yards away from the campus gates.
Thomas Christensen
On their routine patrol, Deputies arrived within minutes of their dispatch call reporting multiple shots fired in an Isla Vista neighborhood infamous for its noisy party scene. According to SBSD Public Information Officer Drew Sugars, “a possible suspect was observed fleeing the area” as deputies arrived. Witnesses identified the apartment complex and the unit from which they reported having heard gunfire.
“Officers immediately set up a perimeter,” Sugars reported to the media, “to contain the incident,” whereupon a suspect later identified as Thomas Christensen was observed crawling out of the apartment window. He was promptly detained and identified by witnesses as having been in possession of a handgun. As Christensen, 21, was being interviewed by Deputies, Bret Harris, 21, was observed inside the apartment. “Deputies called to him, but he refused to come outside,” Sugars added.
Upon Harris’ refusal to exit the apartment, SBSD’s Special Enforcement Team was summoned. Contact was made with Harris, but he again refused their entreaties to come out of the apartment and shortly thereafter got to watch and listen to how a SWAT team employs flash-bang grenades to enter a premises through a locked door.
Christensen was arrested and booked for shooting a firearm with gross negligence and carrying a loaded firearm which he did not own; his bail was set at $35,000. Harris was arrested and booked for resisting arrest and obstructing a police officer, with bail set at $2500.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking, UCSB
Read more:
KCOY: Two Arrested in Isla Vista After Shots Fired
The Bottom Line: Shots Fired on 65 Block of Sabado, Two 21-Year-Olds Arrested
