Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Santa Barbara County Prosecutors Say Officer Involved Fatal Shooting Of Robbery Suspect Justified

Prosecutors say their review of an officer involved fatal shooting of a bank robbery suspect in Santa Barbara County shows it was justified.

It happened last August. Investigators say Robert Earl Adams ran away from a group home in Nipomo after threatening staff members with a knife. The next morning, they say the 30 year old man robbed an Orcutt credit union, and fled on foot.

A Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputy stopped Adams as he was walking on Bradley Road. Witnesses say Adams, still armed with a knife, started walking towards the deputy, ignored multiple orders to stop. The deputy finally opened fire when the man was just a few feet away.

Adams died en route to a hospital. Prosecutors say with the officer’s life threatened by the armed man, the fatal shooting was justified.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral. 
Related Stories