Gangs Santa Barbara County

Responding to a series of serious incidents involving Ventura County gang members, local police have joined forces with Ventura County law enforcement agencies in a crackdown designed to end the violence. Many of the Ventura County gang members say they come to Santa Barbara for a good time--to cruise State Street and look at pretty girls--but increasingly, their forays north have ended in violence and even death.

Responding to a series of serious incidents involving Ventura County gang members, local police have joined forces with Ventura County law enforcement agencies in a crackdown designed to end the violence. Many of the Ventura County gang members say they come to Santa Barbara for a good time--to cruise State Street and look at pretty girls--but increasingly, their forays north have ended in violence and even death.

It's not the sort of thing that is supposed to happen amid the coastal toniness of Santa Barbara--and certainly not downtown during the Old Spanish Days Fiesta. Late on Aug. 5, the first day of the city's annual five-day celebration of its Latino heritage, 16-year-old Robert Mitchum was stabbed to death at a busy downtown intersection in view of dozens of tourists. According to police, Mitchum had been walking with friends when he was attacked by members of a street gang from Ventura.

It's not the sort of thing that is supposed to happen amid the coastal toniness of Santa Barbara--and certainly not downtown during the Old Spanish Days Fiesta. Late on Aug. 5, the first day of the city's annual five-day celebration of its Latino heritage, 16-year-old Robert Mitchum was stabbed to death at a busy downtown intersection in view of dozens of tourists. According to police, Mitchum had been walking with friends when he was attacked by members of a street gang from Ventura.