Arrest Made in Santa Barbara Pellet Gun Shooting of Police Officer
By F. Scott Faulkner
SANTA BARBARA, CA – May 11, 2026 – A confrontation near Santa Barbara’s busy La Cumbre Plaza shopping center ended
with a police officer injured and a 30-year-old probationer-transient in custody Friday
morning after he opened fire with what appeared to be a handgun.
According to Santa Barbara Police Department’s Assistant Chief Marylinda Arroyo,
Mitchell Grant Grote ,30, “fired several rounds” at a SBPD officer around 9:50 a.m. when
the officer first “attempted to contact Grote.”
One of the projectiles struck the officer in the head. Police later determined the weapon
was a pellet or BB gun that fired a .177-caliber round. “The wounded officer returned
fire with a single shot, but Grote was not hit.”
After the shooting, Grote ran into the shopping center carrying the weapon as “he made
statements suggesting he wanted officers to kill him.” At that point, attempted to
barricade himself inside a restroom near the shopping center’s restaurant corridor as
officers surrounded the area with weapons drawn.
Roughly a dozen officers converged on the restroom entrance and repeatedly ordered
Grote to surrender. He exited and was taken into custody “without further violence” an
hour later.
Grote was transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on suspicion
of attempted murder of a police officer, aggravated mayhem, assault upon a peace
officer, battery causing injury to a peace officer and resisting an executive officer.
He remains in custody on a no-bail hold.
Photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Police Department
