Goleta SWAT Incident

Goleta- January 24th, 2009

A man from Goleta is now in custody following an overnight incident that led to a response by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Enforcement Team (SET).

At 3:10 A.M. the County Emergency Communications Center received a “911” call, requesting Sheriff’s Deputies to respond to an apartment complex on the 100-Block of Nectarine Avenue in Goleta. A neighbor reported being involved in a verbal altercation with a man in the apartment parking lot, which culminated when the subject displayed a handgun in his waistband.

Goleta Patrol Deputies immediately responded to the scene and evacuated nearby residences as a public safety measure.  An exterior perimeter was established and attempts were made to contact the subject, due to the unknown state of mental health of the subject, a full Special Weapons and Tactics response was initiated at 5:30 A.M. as well as a response by our Hostage Negotiations Team.

After several attempts to communicate with the subject by telephone, which was deployed into the residence by Deputies as well as attempts to communicate with the subject by ordering him out of the residence via a public address system in both English and Spanish, forced entry was authorized at approximately 11:30AM. A search of the bedroom revealed that the residence was unoccupied.

At approximately 1:15PM the suspect returned to the apartment complex on his bicycle and was immediately taken into custody without incident by the Sheriff’s Dept.

Marcos Obispo Morales (DOB 6/1/78) was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on a no bail warrant for Possession of a Concealed Weapon.

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