One Man Dead in Officer Involved Shooting in Santa Barbara

One man is dead after being shot by a police officer late Sunday night.

It happened around 11:30 p.m. near the intersection of De La Vina and West Victoria streets.

Police told NewsChannel 3 an officer on patrol saw the man walking with a knife on the sidewalk. When the officer tried to stop him, the suspect confronted the officer.

“The subject did threaten and came at the officer with the knife. The officer on numerous occasions told the suspect to drop the knife,” said Capt. David Whitham of the Santa Barbara Police Department.

A witness said he heard four or five gunshots.

“Really close after that, we heard police sirens so I decided to come out and see what was going on and sure enough there were a lot of police officers around and what appeared to be a dead body on the ground,” said the man.

Police do not know who the man is and are awaiting coroners officials.

The police officer was uninjured.

De La Vina between Sola and Victoria Streets will be shut down until around 8 a.m. during the investigation.

The Department of Justice forensic services team is at the scene with a laser scanner measuring the area.