Shots Fired At Police Leads To Standoff, Closure Of Part Of Highway 101 in Santa Barbara For Hours

Standoff scene in Santa Barbara Tuesday afternoon
(Photo by John Palminteri)

Police say efforts to serve a search warrant turned into a confrontation with an armed man firing several shots, and caused the closure of a section of Highway 101 in Santa Barbara County.

It started at Turnpike Road and Camino De Vida just before one Tuesday afternoon.

Santa Barbara police were serving a warrant on someone described as a high-risk suspect. Multiple shots were fired at the officers, but no one was hurt. A SWAT team and negotiators were called in to help.

The incident ended just after 3 p.m., when law enforcement officers say the 32 year old man took his own life.

Highway 101 was closed in the Turnpike Road area as a precaution during gthe standoff.  It reopened just before 4 p.m.

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Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.