4 killed, several injured in shootings near UC Santa Barbara

Drive-by shootings left four dead and several wounded in the Isla Vista area near UC Santa Barbara late Friday.

The dead include one suspect, KEYT-TV reported.

Another suspect has been arrested in connection with the shootings, which broke out about 9:30 p.m., sheriff’s spokeswoman Kelly Hoover told KEYT.

An 18-year-old Newport Beach man who was visiting Santa Barbara described a confusing scene as shots rang out in the college community.

Nikolaus Becker was eating outside The Habit, 888 Embarcadero Del Norte, near the scene when the first set of shots was fired about 9:30 p.m. At first he thought it was firecrackers. A group of three to five police officers who were nearby started to casually walk toward the sounds, said Becker, but ran when a second round of shots broke out.

“That’s when they yelled at us to get inside and take cover,” Becker said.

A black BMW took a sharp turn in front of The Habit, Becker said, and moments later a third round of shots was heard. Becker and his friends moved toward the restaurant’s kitchen but were told to wait in the seating area by employees.

He estimates there were at least 13 to 15 shots total at three locations. The locations were about 100 yards from one another.

Becker said one of his friends who came into the restaurant after the shootings saw a police officer trying to resuscitate a bloody male who was hit.

Another girl came into The Habit crying and said her sorority sister had also been struck.

When Becker emerged from the restaurant about 30 minutes later, he saw three light-colored body bags.

“It was chaotic and there’s a lot of rumors flying around,” Becker said. “It was so strange, afterwards there was still people outside riding their bikes. One guy was doing his homework.”

Witness Xavier Mozejewski told KEYT that the incident resembled an “old Western shootout.”

TV footage showed ambulances and police cars swarming the scene. Witnesses said multiple shots were fired from a car and that several people were hit. The Daily Nexus, the campus newspaper, reported a witness saying the car hit several pedestrians.