Isla Vista shooting: 2 arrested, 2 UCSB students injured

ISLA VISTA, Calif. (KABC) -- Two suspects were arrested in connection to a shooting near the UC Santa Barbara campus in Isla Vista, where two students suffered gunshot wounds.

The shooting occurred outside of a home in the 6500 block of Sabado Tarde Road, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department. The UC Santa Barbara dorms are just a block away, and the main campus is about a five-minute walk from the scene.

Investigators said two individuals, identified as 22-year-old James Joshua Taylor from Lompoc and 19-year-old Jose Guadalupe Gutierrez from Goleta, entered the home shortly after 7 p.m. Monday. Authorities said the two UCSB male students who live in the home knew Gutierrez, but Gutierrez and Taylor are not students at UCSB.

While Taylor and Gutierrez were inside the home, an altercation occurred, and the two UCSB students suffered gunshot wounds. Deputies said one was shot once in the abdomen and the other received a through-and-through wound in the chest. Both students were transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where they were treated for their wounds. Both are expected to survive.

After the altercation, Taylor was held down by other residents in the home until law enforcement arrived on scene. Taylor was transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital to be treated for head wounds he sustained in the altercation. He is also expected to survive.

Gutierrez fled the scene in what was described as a white four-door sedan.

A short time later, a Hispanic male arrived at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital with injuries he said he sustained from a car accident on the UCSB campus. Deputies later learned that this individual was the suspect they were looking for and that his injuries were from the altercation, not a car crash.

Both suspects were arrested. Due to their injuries, they were kept in the hospital until they can be released and booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail.

A motive for the shooting remains under investigation. Detectives are looking into the possibility that drugs may have been involved.

Such incidents are not necessarily rare, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.

"We find that Isla Vista attracts outsiders who come in, some of them, with criminal intent," said Kelly Hoover with the sheriff's department.

The big law enforcement response following the shooting put UCSB and the surrounding dorms on lockdown for about two hours.

"We walked down there and we saw two guys that were just laying on the steps, like walking up to their apartment. They looked like they had been shot. We saw like bloody clothing, but it didn't look super serious because when we saw them get into the ambulance, they looked pretty stable," said witness Collin Mack.

Taylor was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, robbery, discharge of a firearm in the commission of a felony causing great bodily injury and participation in a criminal street gang.

Gutierrez was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, robbery, possession of a stolen firearm, participating in a criminal street gang and discharge of a firearm in the commission of a felony causing great bodily injury.

The shooting comes nearly a year after 22-year-old Eliot Rodger went on a shooting spree in the college beach town. Rodger killed six people and injured 13 others before committing suicide.

"That was so much for this community to go through. Emotions are running high out here, just coming up on that anniversary," Hoover said. "So for this to happen right now, even though it's completely unrelated, just to have injured students in Isla Vista, it's just very, very, very hard to deal with."

If you have any additional information regarding this incident, you're urged to contact the sheriff's anonymous tip-line at (805) 681-4171.