Man Fatally Shot by Deputies Identified as Bryan Carreno, 26

The Sheriff’s Office has reported that the man shot and killed by deputies following a two-hour pursuit in the north La Cumbre area was Bryan Carreno, a 26-year-old from Santa Barbara, thought to be high on methamphetamine.

A family member of Carreno’s called 9-1-1 at about 6:30 p.m. to report he was in the garage behaving erratically, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Carreno left the house and snaked through the neighborhood, witnesses told deputies, climbing on “several roofs” and entering a house where a party was taking place. Detectives and deputies, including helicopter surveillance, searched for him. They found a large kitchen knife and a white baseball cap he dropped outside one of the houses. Canines traced the scent. Witnesses told police he might be armed with a hatchet, but that turned out not to be the case, according to Sheriff’s spokesperson Kelly Hoover.

Deputies eventually got a call from a resident on Russell Way, saying the suspect had broken in and rummaged through a kitchen drawer, Hoover said. These residents lived close to his parent’s house, said Hoover, but they did not know him. The residents went outside while deputies went inside. They found Carreno inside armed with what Hoover described as a “large kitchen knife” with a “four inch handle” and “large blade.” The deputies went back outside to an “enclosed” side yard, Hoover said. She said deputies demanded multiple times that Carreno “stop” and “drop the weapon,” but he “refused to follow those” orders. He advanced on the deputies, and five deputies fired “multiple” shots. Hoover declined to comment on the deputies who fired a shot or the number of shots fired. Carreno died at the scene. All five deputies are now on out paid leave, per department policy.

About 100 feet away, a neighbor, peering outside of his cracked window, said he heard Sheriff’s deputies yell at Carreno from a bullhorn about an hour and a half into the pursuit, demanding he surrender himself. The neighbor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, heard Carreno respond but he could not make out what he said. He then heard 10 to 12 shots fired over the course of one to two seconds, he said.

Carreno was known to law enforcement, according to the Sheriff’s Office. He lived in the City of Santa Barbara and had been previously arrested for domestic violence and assault with a deadly weapon. In 2010, he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, a misdemeanor charge, as well as other low-level alcohol-related charges. He also had pending misdemeanor battery case and a probation violation for a charge related to public intoxication, the District Attorney’s Office said.

Carreno had been named on the city’s proposed gang injunction, which a Superior Court judge ultimately threw out. Five years ago, he was featured in a video produced by Youth CineMedia, which works with at-risk young people, protesting the injunction. At that time, he had two low-level alcohol related incidents and an altercation with his brother on his record. He had been a Santa Barbara City College student, majoring in English.

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