Two Santa Maria men face over a dozen charges after a Thanksgiving morning crime spree deep in the foothills of Goleta, in which the pair allegedly burglarized an Elwood Ranch home, attempted to shoot someone from their vehicle, and then led Santa Barbara Sheriff’s deputies on a chase through the streets before crashing into a sidewalk and running away on foot before eventually being caught.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of a driver “shooting from a vehicle” on the outskirts of Elwood Ranch Road in Goleta around 8:30 Thanksgiving morning, according to Sheriff’s spokesperson Raquel Zick, and when they arrived they saw the two men fleeing toward Cathedral Oaks. Deputies then attempted to initiate a traffic stop near Camino Real Marketplace, but the vehicle took off and led a brief chase before the driver collided with the sidewalk and both suspects fled on foot, Zick said.
Deputies caught the two men — identified as 37-year-old Alejandro Maldonado and 31-year-old Edgar Bribiesca-Puga, both from Santa Maria — and after a search of the vehicle, they were found to be in possession of “items stolen from the Ellwood Ranch Road residence” and an unserialized .40 caliber “ghost” gun that was used in the shooting.
Both men were taken to Santa Barbara County Jail and charged with attempted murder, assault with a firearm, conspiracy, grand theft, burglary, obstruction, possession of a controlled substance, vandalism, and possession of burglary tools. Maldonado, the driver, was also charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon, allowing a firearm to be discharged from a vehicle, evading, and driving the wrong way while evading, along with misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and driving on the wrong side of a divided highway. He is being held without bail due to a violation of probation from a previous crime.
Bribiesca-Puga, the alleged shooter, was booked on felony charges of shooting at a person from a vehicle, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a controlled substance while armed with a loaded firearm, carrying a loaded firearm in public, felon in possession of ammunition, and possession of an unserialized firearm. His bail is set at $1 million.