A Santa Barbara police officer was flagged down Friday morning when a passerby saw blood on the 400 block of State Street, and police followed the blood trail for two blocks, over the freeway and into a homeless camp, where they found a man with multiple stab wounds, Lt. Brent Mandrell said.
The victim was taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and is in stable condition, he said.
Since the man was uncooperative with police, investigators aren’t sure what happened, or when. Police were alerted to the blood a little before 8 a.m.
Two blocks of Lower State Street were wrapped in caution tape, including parts of City Parking Lot 12 on Gutierrez and State streets.
The sidewalks are lined with chairs and blankets for the Old Spanish Days Historical Parade and behind them on the red-tiled sidewalk, blood drops are splattered along the entire western side of the 400 block of State Street, as well as in the bike lane.
Police assigned extra crime scene investigators and detectives to the scene early so the crime scenes could be processed, cleaned up and opened in time for the noon parade, Mandrell said.
Investigators were finished with the multiple crime scenes by 9:30 a.m. and the Public Works Department handled clean-up, he said.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
