The stabbing suspect shot and killed by law enforcement in a Ralphs grocery store near Goleta last week “charged toward” deputies with a knife in each hand, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Wednesday night.
Deputies, medics and other emergency responders were called to the store at 5170 Hollister Ave. at 2:39 p.m. Oct. 20 for multiple reports of a stabbing.
The altercation between two men started when the suspect reportedly abused the victim’s dog.
The suspect stabbed the other man twice and then fled into the store, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Two deputies who went into the store fired their guns at the suspect, who was declared deceased at the scene.
The Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as Abdou Rahman Nyan, 34, of Connecticut.
The stabbing victim, whose name has not been released, was transported to the hospital, treated and released. His dog was unharmed, according to authorities.
In an updated timeline released Wednesday, sheriff’s spokesperson Raquel Zick said Nyan fled into the Ralphs and barricaded himself in the public bathroom in the back of the store.
Deputies placed store display racks in front of the bathroom door “in an effort to contain him,” Zick said, and attempted to negotiate his surrender.
“Moments later, Nyan suddenly opened the door, pushed through the barricade, and charged toward the deputies clutching a metal trashcan as a barrier while holding a knife in each hand,” Zick said.
“Deputies were positioned less than 10 feet away in the narrow alcove outside the restroom and issued verbal commands.”
One deputy used a Taser device and two deputies fired six rounds from their service weapons, Zick said.
Those two deputies were identified as Sgt. Eric Delgadillo and Deputy Anthony Muneton.
“Deputies immediately secured both knives and began lifesaving measures. Fire and medical personnel arrived shortly thereafter and pronounced Nyan deceased at the scene,” Zick said.
No deputies or bystanders were reported injured in the stabbing or shooting.
Deputies evacuated employees and shoppers from the store when they arrived, according to emergency radio traffic.
Store employees described hearing four to six gunshots, and apparent eyewitness video taken outside the store during the incident includes several gunshots in quick succession.
Delgadillo and Muneton were placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting, which is Sheriff’s Office policy, Zick said.
The investigation will be submitted to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office for review and determination whether the shooting was a justifiable homicide.
Previous statements from the Sheriff’s Office indicated that the stabbing and shooting occurred inside the store, but the new timeline and witness statements indicate that the reported assault with a knife happened outside the store.
The Sheriff’s Office also previously said deputies attempted to arrest Nyan “and there was an altercation and the suspect was shot.”
The Ralphs store closed early the Monday afternoon of the shooting and reopened the next morning.
