Two men were dead Sunday after a homicide in the Santa Ynez Riverbed in Lompoc was followed by a fatal officer-involved shooting of the slaying suspect.
Shortly after 6 a.m., officers responded to the riverbed, in the area of the multipurpose trail roundabout, on a report of a homicide, Lompoc police Sgt. Kevin Martin said.
They found a body, and were given a description of a possible suspect by witnesses, Martin said.
Shortly before 7 a.m., a subject matching the suspect’s description was located in the area of A Street and Airport Avenue.
“Officers responded to that area, and as they arrived the subject began to fire rounds at the officers,” Martin said. “Officers exited their vehicles and returned that gunfire, striking the suspect.”
The wounded suspect was taken by AMR ambulance to Lompoc Valley Medical Center.
The suspect, a 34-year-old Lompoc man whose name was not released, died of his injuries, Kelly Hoover, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman, confirmed Sunday night.
No Lompoc police officers were injured, Martin said.
Martin declined to say anything about the victim in the homicide.
“At this point, the investigations are so early in that it’s inappropriate for us to release anything,” Martin said more than four hours after the officer-involved shooting.
Lompoc officers were continuing to investigate the homicide, while members of the Sheriff’s Department were investigating the officer-involved shooting, Martin said.
“Our protocol here in the county is if there’s an officer-involved shooting, for transparency purposes it’s always better to have an outside agency conduct the investigation,” Martin said.
The name of the homicide victim will not be released until family members are notified.
However, riverbed residents were mourning the death of their friend.
“He was honestly one of the most genuinely nice guys that were on the street,” said friend Irene Gunn. “He did anything to help anybody else he could.”
She and another riverbed resident believe a dispute over a woman led to the slaying.
A Street between Pine and College avenues remained closed for several hours Sunday while sheriff’s deputies investigated the officer-involved shooting.
While the investigation continnued in the riverbed, people walked and rode bikes on the multipurpose trail Sunday afternoon.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.