The Santa Barbara Police Department is trained to deal with stabbings and holdups. The unusual circumstances surrounding a pair of weekend incidents stood out from the routine, however.
Late Friday, police reported, a 16-year-old boy was admitted to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital after he sought emergency room treatment for a single stab wound. Officers questioned the youth, who claimed he had been attacked by three individuals near the hospital, but gave no further description.
Police detectives are investigating the motive for the assault and have discovered that the youth also had been stabbed two years ago.
On Sunday afternoon, meanwhile, a family of four was held up at gunpoint on the Santa Barbara Municipal Golf Course, 3500 McCaw Ave.
According to police Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte, a department spokesman, the family — three adults and a child — were approaching the fourth tee, which is adjacent to Calle Real. A white male, approximately 45 years old and 5-foot-8-inches tall, wearing a gray sweatshirt, khakis and a straw hat, approached an adult male family member, brandished a handgun and robbed him of $250. The suspect fled on foot and a police search of the neighborhood was unsuccessful.