No arrests made in two recent stabbings

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Santa Barbara Police say they have not made any arrests in connection with two stabbings over the past week, and have not yet confirmed if the second incident was gang related.
Lt. Dave Whitham, a police department spokesman, said the victim in the second stabbing, a 20-year-old male, was stabbed at the intersection of Haley and Nopal Streets on Monday night and was released from Santa Barbara Cottage hospital Tuesday morning.

He said the victim, whose name is not being released by authorities at this time, told police he was assaulted by three Hispanic males between the ages of 17 and 21 for no reason.
After the victim was assaulted, Whitham said he made his way to the intersection of Nopal and Cota Streets near Santa Barbara Junior High School, where he hailed a cab and was transported to the hospital.
Whitham said the cab driver dropped the victim off at the emergency room and drove away. He said investigators are trying to identify the cab company, but surveillance footage from the hospital is too distorted to make it out.
He said the cab is part of the crime scene and needs to be examined and urged the cab company to call police at 897-2355.
Whitham said he did not know what the victim was doing on the street before the assault occurred and said he is not the focus of any criminal investigation.
The Monday stabbing, which occurred just before 10 p.m. according to a 911 call made by people near the scene of the assault, was the second in the past four days. Police have not yet made any arrests in the first incident.
In both instances, the victims told police they were assaulted for no reason.
The first stabbing took place last Friday at 10:20 p.m. on the 700 block of Wentworth Ave. Police said the 17-year-old male victim managed to make it to his home on the 800 block of Orange Ave. where the police were called.
Though the stabbings took place on opposite sides of town in relatively close proximity to each other, Police can’t be sure if Monday’s stabbing was retaliatory.
The most recent stabbings are the latest in a consistent string of incidents that have cast a broad shadow of violence over the city since the beginning of this year.
On July 16, 16-year-old Lorenzo Valentin Carachure was stabbed to death near his parents’ home on the 700 block of San Pascual St.
Lt. Paul McCaffrey, a public information officer for the police department, said no suspects have been identified or arrested in connection with Carachure’s death despite having at least two witnesses.
Those witnesses were stabbed at the same time Carachure was killed and both lived.
McCaffrey wouldn’t single out any one specific incident, but said it’s common while investigating gang crimes to encounter resistance from witnesses who are gang members, or who are fearful of retaliation if they do cooperate.
“It’s just really hard when you feel like you’re not getting full cooperation from the victims and the victims are oftentimes the only witnesses,” McCaffrey said.