Armed Suspect Taken into Custody After Hours-Long Standoff at Old Town Goleta Apartment
Sheriff’s Office Evacuates Buena Tierra Apartments After Man Armed with Knife Barricades Himself in Room
[Updated: Tue., Sept. 3, 2024, 2 p.m.]
An armed Goleta man suspected of battery has been arrested after barricading himself in his apartment in Old Town Goleta on Saturday morning, initiating an hours-long standoff with Santa Barbara County sheriff’s personnel.
Law enforcement officers responded to a reported fight among residents of Buena Tierra — the new permanent supportive housing development at the former Super 8 at 6021 Hollister Avenue — around 8:30 a.m., which is when the man barricaded himself in his third-story apartment. When deputies arrived, they contacted an adult male victim, who was transported to an area hospital with serious injuries but is expected to survive.
Deputies learned that the suspect, identified as 41-year-old Adam Unmuth, had returned to the balcony near his room on the third floor, according to Sheriff’s spokesperson Raquel Zick. “Deputies attempted to contact Unmuth, who was agitated, non-compliant and armed with a knife.”
Sheriff’s deputies and Special Enforcement Team personnel evacuated other residents from the building and attempted to negotiate with Unmuth to convince him to surrender. A warrant for Unmuth’s arrest was approved at around 10:54 am.
Deputies attempted to get Unmuth to surrender with the use of a Sheriff’s K9, kinetic projectile, and chemical agents, according to Zick. At around 12:54 p.m., deputies forced entry into the room and arrested Unmuth. He was transported to an area hospital for medical attention before being medically cleared and booked into county jail on several felony charges, including battery with serious bodily injury, mayhem, and resisting a peace officer causing injury, as well as misdemeanor obstruction. His bail is set at $100,000.
