Investigators determined that sheriff’s deputies were legally justified in shooting and killing a man at the Goleta Valley Ralphs supermarket, the District Attorney’s Office said Friday.
Deputies responded to a reported stabbing at the 5170 Hollister Ave. supermarket the afternoon of Oct. 20, 2025. An altercation between two men outside the Ralphs, led to one man stabbing the other with a knife.
The victim and the stabbing suspect both went into the store. Responding law enforcement officers fatally shot the suspect after he “burst out of the bathroom and rushed the deputies” with a knife in each hand, according to authorities. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The District Attorney’s Office determined the deadly shooting of Abdou Rahman Nyan, 34, of Connecticut, was a justifiable homicide. Authorities also identified him as Abdourahman Nyan.
The report released Friday includes more details about the initial fight, knife attack, and law enforcement response before the shooting.
One deputy used a stun gun and two deputies fired their service weapons at Nyan.
Deputy Anthony Muneton and Sgt. Eric Delgadillo both acted reasonably in their use of deadly force, and the shooting was a justifiable homicide, the District Attorney’s Office concluded.
“When Nyan ignored commands to drop two knives, held one knife in each hand and used a metal trashcan as a shield while rushing at deputies, his actions created a reasonable fear of death or great bodily injury in the minds” of the two officers, the report said.
Both officers were put on paid administrative leave following the shooting and during the investigation.
The report said deputies warned Nyan that he would be shot if he approached them with knives. They also tried to negotiate with him and called for less-lethal equipment like a shield.
When Nyan came out of the bathroom quickly toward them, they feared he “was going to stab or kill the deputies, or escape and stab or kill civilians still in the store,” the report said.
Nyan “made it within five feet of the deputies before he was struck” by bullets, the report says.
An autopsy determined Nyan was shot five times and the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds.
The initial altercation outside the store was between Nyan and another man identified as Matthew Newton-Wood. It prompted several witnesses to call 9-1-1 and record video.
Newton-Wood and Nyan had encountered each other in the area several days before, and Nyan had threatened to kill the man and his dog, according to the report.
On Oct. 20, Newton-Wood’s dog lunged and barked at Nyan when they walked by him, and Nyan threatened to kill them both, according to the District Attorney’s report.
Nyan took a knife out of his backpack and tried to attack the dog, and the two men fought and struggled over the knife.
At one point Nyan sliced Newton-Wood’s arm with the knife. The dog was barking and biting both men as they fought, according to the report.
Newton-Wood went inside the Ralphs to an office, and Nyan also entered the store and headed to the restrooms at the back.
Responding deputies evacuated the store. They also shoved storage shelving in front of the bathroom doors to keep Nyan contained while they negotiated with him, according to the report.
After Nyan “rushed out” of the restroom and deputies shot him several times, sheriff’s personnel called in medics to assess his injuries. Nyan was declared dead at the scene.
Newton-Wood was treated by American Medical Response personnel at the scene and transported to the hospital with injuries from the altercation outside the store.
