Two teens stabbed in suspected gang attacks

ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Santa Barbara police are investigating two separate stabbings that occurred Sunday, both involving teens and both suspected to be gang-related.

The first incident occurred at 6:30 p.m. in the 300 block of Ladera Street, near Santa Barbara City College, police said, when a group of people wearing ski masks attacked a 16-year-old boy.
“The victim reported he was hit by a baseball bat,” Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte said. “Another suspect hit him in the neck with some sort of bladed object.”
Family members took the injured teen to Cottage Hospital, where he received sutures for a severe laceration on his neck and was released, Sgt. Duarte said. Police first became aware of the incident after being contacted by hospital staff, he added.
The second stabbing happened later in the evening, at 7:15 p.m., in the 600 block of Eucalyptus Avenue. Sgt. Duarte said a vehicle carrying several people drove into the dead-end street, located near Mission and Modoc roads.
“They exited that vehicle and started attacking one of the victims,” he said.
Called to the scene by reports of a fight in progress, officers found a 15-year-old boy stabbed in the arm, Sgt. Duarte said, the lone victim of the suspected gang attack. He was also taken to Cottage Hospital, treated and released, police said.
No arrests have been made in either case, authorities said, and investigations are still pending.