Santa Barbara police officers and Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies search the neighborhood of Eucalyptus Hill Road and South Salinas Street on Monday evening after a reported shooting in the area. Two suspects reportedly fled the area but eluded capture. 
The Santa Barbara Police Department drives the Bearcat armored vehicle into the Eucalyptus Hill Road and Salinas Street area following the report of a shooting Monday evening. 
The Santa Barbara Police Department drives the Bearcat armored vehicle into the Eucalyptus Hill Road and Salinas Street area following the report of a shooting Monday evening. 
Santa Barbara police officers and sheriff’s deputies evacuate a home in the Eucalyptus Hill Road and Salinas Street area Monday evening while searching for people believed to be involved in a shooting. 
Santa Barbara police set up a perimeter in the Eastside neighborhood after a reported shooting Monday evening. 
Some roads on Santa Barbara’s Eastside were shut down while police searched for a suspected shooter. 
A vehicle that was shot at Monday, sending one person to the hospital in Santa Barbara.
The search for suspects in a shooting on Santa Barbara’s Lower Eastside that left one person critically wounded stretched late into the night Monday, but ended without the gunmen being located.
The effort focused on a residence on the 200 block of South Salinas Street, near Cacique Street, where investigators had been told by witnesses the suspects might be hiding, possibly in a backyard shed.
The incident began at about 5:20 p.m., when Santa Barbara police received several reports of shots fired on the 1400 block of Eucalyptus Hill Road, just above South Salinas Street.
At the same time, additional 9-1-1 calls came in reporting a vehicle collision into a tree, causing the SUV to catch on fire, according to police Lt. Shawn Hill.
Responding officers and Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies found the vehicle, which had been shot up, and a male victim who had suffered a “significant injury,” Hill said.
The victim, described only as “an out-of-county resident,” was transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in critical condition, Hill said, but details on his injuries were not available.
Hill said two young male suspects were observed fleeing from the scene, and police set up a perimeter in the area in an attempt to locate them.
A Santa Barbara County helicopter was called in to help with the search, and circled overhead for hours, at times broadcasting announcements for any suspects to surrender.
Police also deployed the department’s Bearcat armored vehicle and SWAT unit, along with at least two K-9 teams.
Two rounds of tear gas or similar chemicals were deployed, according to emergency radio traffic.
A shelter-in-place order was issued for the surrounding neighborhood, while a crowd gathered behind police crime-scene tape to watch as the incident unfolded.
At 11 p.m., Hill announced that “the SWAT team conducted a thorough search for public safety and have determined the area to be safe at this time. The previous shelter in place order was lifted for the area …”
“This is an ongoing investigation, and the circumstances suggest that it was not a random act of violence,” he added.
Police did not say whether they believe the shooting involved criminal street gangs.
Santa Barbara firefighters and an American Medical Response ambulance also responded to the incident.
Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.
— This story includes on-scene reporting from Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland. Executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
