Photo: Angel Arizmendi
May 15, 2020 – Santa Barbara County, Ca.
An apparent gang fight on the evening of March 6, 2020 resulted in what Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Raquel Zick reported as “severe injuries and multiple lacerations” inflicted upon a 14-year-old victim.
Fernandez
A second victim was found by deputies responding to the scene suffering from “less severe” injuries. Witness statements at the scene indicated that “several suspects had attacked the victims with hammers, bats, pipes, and a machete.”
The immediately ensuing investigation—following a similar report that same evening in the City of Carpinteria—eventually lead detectives to identifying five juvenile suspects who were apprehended on March 31, 2020 and booked into the Santa Maria Juvenile Hall on an assortment of felony charges that included attempted murder with gang enhancements.
Proving once again that the long arm of the law never sleeps, detectives continues to investigate the two attack episodes and identified a pair of adult males who had been involved in the violence.
On May 14th, 18-year-old Santa Barbara resident Miguel Angel Arizmendi was contacted by SBSD deputies and arrested on charges of participation in a criminal street gang, assault with a deadly weapon, and as an accessory in an attempted homicide. He was transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, with his bail set at $100,000.
The following day, 18-year-old Santa Barbara resident Kevin Vasquez Fernandez was located, taken into custody, and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail where he was booked on charges that included attempted homicide, association with a criminal street gang, conspiracy, assault with a deadly weapon, and inflicting bodily harm during the commission of a felony. He remains in custody with is bail set at $1,000,000.
Photos: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
